Ante Up
by EmAino
Summary: Old enemies of the Montecito rear their heads once more, kidnapping Jillian and Delinda, and leading the Montecito gang on their greatest adventure ever. Complete.
1. Chapter One

Author's Note: It would be extremely helpful to have read two of my previous stories, "The Ties that Bind" and "Semper Fi?", before starting this one as events in both are mentioned quite a bit. 

Anyway, takes place sometime during season 2 after Mary gave Danny the ring back. Just pop it in wherever you see fit. :) Hope you enjoy

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Ante Up

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Chapter One

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Stopping to catch his breath sounded like a great idea! Putting his hands to his knees, Danny McCoy's dark eyes focused on the desert ground beneath him. The ex-Marine and current Head of Security at the Montecito Resort and Casino was out on his usual morning run, which typically ended along this same uninhabited stretch of desert on the outskirts of Las Vegas. However, his mind was still at his pretty spacious two-story house, where his best friend since childhood, Mary Connell, was moving in. The woman with shoulder-length, red hair had said that she was only doing so to help Danny with the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder he had been diagnosed with upon coming home from fighting the war in the Middle East. However, Danny hoped that it was a little bit more than that.

The sound of a car pulling up behind him jolted Danny from his thoughts. The tall, brown-haired, above-average looking man turned to see a black, stretch limousine parking itself behind him. Quite an odd sight considering where he currently was, and McCoy instinctively raised his guard. Any attempts to peer into the limo and find out who was inside were blocked by the black, tinted windows. One on the front passenger side, however, eventually rolled down and someone pointed a pistol out of it. As he looked down the barrel of the gun, Danny froze instantly.

"Get in." the gun wielder ordered in a firm tone. The pistol waved towards the back door.

Considering the harm that could come to him, McCoy immediately contemplated not following the man's orders, but just as quickly dismissed that thought as foolish. There was neither witnesses nor immediate help around if the man did shoot him. With a sigh of reluctance, he opened the back door and got inside the car.

A man with black and gray, curly hair was already sitting inside and smiled at Danny as he sat down in the facing seat. Catching sight of him, the Montecito employee gasped in absolute shock. It was a notorious cheat known only as the Professor, who Danny himself had scammed into believing that he was joining with the older man's organization to take McCoy's boss, Ed Deline, down. To best of Danny's knowledge, The Professor was supposed to be in Nevada State Penitentiary, and not in the back of some limo.

"Surprised to see me, Danny?" the Professor asked knowingly, smiling at the amazed look on Danny's face.

"What in the hell are you doing out?" an angry Danny asked as the limo started to move.

"I'm afraid that prison just didn't agree with me." the Professor casually remarked, leaning back in his seat. "So, I've accepted a business venture elsewhere. I'm leaving Las Vegas and the continent tonight."

"The hell you are!" a firm Danny exclaimed, shaking his head. "I'm not letting you go anywhere."

"Yes, I thought that you might say something along that line." the Professor nodded, reaching into his coat and slowly pulling out a pistol. "And that's why I don't plan on leaving without taking care of two final pieces of business. One doesn't require my personal attention, leaving me free to attend to the other, more important one." With a smirk, he aimed the pistol directly at Danny's forehead. "And that, my young friend, would be teaching you a very painful lesson about double-crossing the wrong people."

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"Are you sure that you can't come with us, Eddie?" a disappointed Jillian Deline inquired, looking at her husband as the pair walked out onto the driveway in front of their luxurious house. The older woman with shoulder-length, blonde hair looked directly into his eyes. "Actually spending some time with your family would be nice for a change."

"Shopping isn't my thing." Ed replied, slowly removing his arm from around Jillian as they came to a stop. Looking at his wife, the gray-haired yet still powerful looking man couldn't help, but smile. A twinkle appeared in his clear, blue eyes. "Besides, you know how much I hate leaving Danny and Mike alone. I'm surprised that the Montecito is still standing!"

"They're more capable than you give them credit for, Eddie." Jillian grinned, knowing her husband's relationship with the two younger men. With a slight giggle, she quickly kissed Ed on the cheek.

"A peck on the cheek is all I get?" a surprised Ed asked as Jillian pulled away. With the speed of a cheetah, he wrapped his arms gently around the woman before shaking his gray-haired head. "I don't think so."

"Can't give you too much or I might not get away." Jillian smiled, putting her hands on his shoulder.

Just as the pair leaned in for a kiss, a car horn was heard honking from behind them. It was their adult daughter, Delinda's, not so subtle way of reminding the older couple that they were still outside in broad daylight and that she could see them just fine from where she sat in the silver Ashton Martin sports car.

"Can I still send her to her room?" Ed asked with an annoyed sigh.

"She'd only break out." Jillian chuckled with a shake of her head. She quickly, yet passionately kissed Ed on the lips before heading to the car herself. "We'll be home later tonight."

"Okay." Ed replied as he opened the car door for his wife. "Don't spend too much of my money."

"You know us, Daddy." Delinda grinned from the passenger seat.

"Exactly why I said it." Ed replied, returning her grin as Jillian started the car. Waving one last time to the pair as they pulled out of the driveway, Ed headed for his own vehicle: a red Hummer H2 that was parked nearby.

Opening the door, Deline immediately cursed himself for forgetting to organize some papers he had brought home from the Montecito the previous night, some of which now lay on the passenger side floor. He reached inside the car to collect them, which diverted his attention from the road in front of his house and prevented Ed from seeing the mysterious black car that was now tailing his wife and daughter.

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"Ed!" a worried looking, red-haired woman exclaimed as she rushed over to him. Deline, who had just stepped foot into the Montecito, stopped immediately as the woman came up to him. It was Mary Connell, the Special Events Coordinator for the casino, but that title didn't explain the worry on her face. "Have you seen or talked to Danny this morning?"

"No, I haven't." an honest Ed replied, shaking his head. The gray-haired man quickly regretted this action as the fear in Mary's eyes only seemed to increase. "Something wrong, sweetheart?"

"It…it could be." Mary nodded with a shaky voice. "I went to pick him up at the end of his usual morning run, but I didn't see him at all." She paused to glance at her watch. "He also should have been here by now, and he's not answering his cell-phone."

Digesting those tidbits of information, Ed could feel worry arise in himself as well. Missing work wasn't like his protégé at all, and Danny definitely would have told someone if he was going to change his usual route. As thoughts of the many enemies himself and McCoy had made filled his mind, Deline rubbed the back of his head. Could one of them have…

"He'll turn up." a confident Ed said, dropping his hand. The only thing he could do right now was calm Mary's fears. "He just probably lost track of time and doesn't have his cell-phone turned on." His hands found their way to Mary's shoulders. "I'm sure that Danny's just fine."

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The broken gate was the first indication to Larry McCoy that something was wrong. Parking his truck just outside the fence, the brown-haired, older man tried to figure out why someone would mess with his construction company's latest job site: the renovation of an old warehouse. Although he thought that it was just the work of some teenage punks, he decided to get out and take a look around before calling the police.

A horrific sight greeted Larry as he raised the main door to the interior. A man was lying unconscious and facedown in the middle of the warehouse with his left arm outstretched towards fragments of something that also lay on the floor. The man's clothes were torn in several places, revealing the bruised and bloodied skin underneath.

"My God." a stunned Larry whispered to himself, wondering who the man was and how he had gotten there. A groan suddenly erupted from the man, and his left hand clenched into a fist, giving Larry an indication that the man had resumed consciousness. He rushed over, knelt down and put a hand on the injured man's back. The man looked up, allowing Larry to see his face and, to McCoy's surprise, it was one he knew all too well. His eyes widened in absolute terror.

"Danny?" he heard himself whisper.

"Dad?" a weak Danny asked, partly hoping that he wasn't hallucinating and partly hoping that he was. While his father being there meant that he would eventually get medical attention, Danny didn't want his father to see him like this. Rolling onto his back, the tall, brown-haired ex-Marine felt as if a million knives were stabbing his entire body and found himself wincing in pain. "God…"

"I'm right here, Danny." Larry reassured, cradling his son's torso in his arms. "What in the hell happened to you?"

"Some guys beat the crap out of me." Danny replied, still trying to deal with the pain he was feeling. As his eyes closed tightly, the ex-Marine began hyperventilating. "I've got to contact Ed."

"No, we've got to get you some help." Larry corrected, shaking his head. In an instant, the elder McCoy was on his cell-phone. "Yeah, I need an ambulance and the police. My son's been mugged…"

To be continued...


	2. Chapter Two

Author's Note: Because I'm an idiot, I forgot to put in the usual disclaimer above the last chapter, so insert the usual jargon about not owning the show nor the characters and not claiming to here. LOL. You could sue me, but you wouldn't get much.

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Chapter 2

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It was a well-known fact that both McCoy men hated hospitals with a passion. Not so much institutions themselves or doctors, it was a bad collection of memories that was the cause behind their loathing. Katherine McCoy, Danny's mother, had spent many of her final days in the hospital, changing the way both men viewed the establishments forever. Much like the night Katherine had passed away, Larry McCoy once again found himself in the waiting room, waiting for the doctors to come back with news about Danny's condition. The tall, brown-haired man had been taken into an examination room immediately upon arrival before being taken into the operating room. According to the nurse Larry had talked to, Danny's wrist had been broken to the point where surgery was needed to help repair it. Wearily running his hand through his brown hair, the construction foreman let out a sigh.

"Larry!" a familiar voice called as running footsteps were heard. The elder McCoy barely had time to get up from his seat before Mary rushed into his arms, hugging him tightly. Tears of worry were still forming in the red-haired woman's eyes and had been for quite awhile, judging by the puffiness of her face. "How is Danny? Where is he?"

"He's going to be just fine, Mary." Larry reassured, hugging the woman who had been like a daughter to him and smoothing her hair with his hand. More footsteps were heard, getting Larry's attention. Ed was running over, followed by Mike Cannon, Sam Marquez and Nessa Holt, all friends of Danny's from the Montecito.

"What happened, Mr. M.?" Mike, a bald, African American man, asked with a concerned look on his face.

"I don't know exactly." Larry replied as Mary slowly pulled away from him. "All I got out of Danny was that some guys attacked him. He's got a few broken ribs, a mild concussion, bumps and bruises all over his body, and a broken right wrist."

"Damn." Mike muttered with a shake of his head.

"Well, where is he?" a curious Sam inquired, flipping back a strand of her long, brown hair. "Can we see him?"

"He's in the operating room right now." Larry sighed, "Apparently, his wrist was almost shattered, so the doctors needed to operate to help fix it."

"Oh my God." Mary breathed, putting her hands over her mouth.

"I'll find the bastards that did this, Larry." a quiet Ed promised, stepping forward. A serious look was present in the gray-haired man's blue eyes. "I promise you that whomever is responsible for your son landing in that hospital bed will pay."

"You're damn right they will." Larry agreed before suddenly punching Ed square in the jaw. Caught off-guard, the older man fell to the floor. McCoy looked like he wanted to do more, but both Mike and Mary restrained him.

"Come on, Larry." Mary discouraged, placing herself in between Larry and Ed as Mike held McCoy back. The red-haired woman shook her head. "Not now."

"What in the hell was that for?" a puzzled Ed, getting back to his feet after checking to make sure that he wasn't bleeding and waving off Sam and Nessa's offers to help him up.

"You're as much to blame as anyone for this!" an angry Larry replied, staring back into Ed's blue eyes. "Ever since my son came to work for you, you've done nothing but help him earn enemies! Well, look where that's gotten him, Ed." McCoy's voice started to break, and he shook his head. "In a hospital bed, lucky that he was able to walk away with his life this time."

"Larry." a comforting Mary said as the older man suddenly turned away from the group. She gently put her hands on his shoulder as sobs were heard escaping him.

Having a child himself, Ed could sympathize with what Larry had to be going through. He knew that concern about Danny's health and his safety in the future had to be filling the elder McCoy as well as sadness for what his son had already gone through. The gray-haired man knew that that's how he would feel if something like this had happened to Delinda, but realized that the situations were not exactly the same. After all, Ed still had both his wife and child whereas Larry only had Danny left.

A balding doctor around Ed's age suddenly emerged from the back and looked around at the waiting room. All of the people in the general area stopped their various activities and conversations to listen to what he had to say.

"Larry McCoy?" he called out, looking around the room curiously.

"That's me." Larry replied, snapping out of his thoughts and raising his hand. He dabbed away a remaining tear of worry as the kindly doctor walked over.

"Hi." the man introduced, offering his hand. "I'm Dr. Tom Hagen, your son's attending physician." He nodded at the collected group behind Larry. "More family?"

"Close friends." Larry corrected, shaking the man's hand. "How is he, doctor?"

"Out of surgery and I expect him to make a full recovery." Dr. Hagen replied, which brought obvious relief to everyone. "He's also awake and has been officially moved into a room." He quickly checked the clipboard in his hands, knowing that he was forgetting something. "However, the minute he woke up, he started asking to see an Ed Deline. Do you know where I can find him?"  
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"What's the status on our cargo?" a curious Professor asked, tearing his eyes away from the white clouds that were passing by the private jet's window.

"The girl was starting to stir, so we gave her more sedative." one of his men replied, straightening up as he reported to his boss. "Other than that, both Deline women are just fine."

"Good." the Professor nodded, twirling an unlit cigar around in his fingers. "Make sure that they stay that way. I don't want them injured in any way." The man nodded in response. "What did our contact in Vegas have to report?"

"McCoy was found and taken to a hospital." the man reported, "Deline and some of the others are there now, visiting him." He shook his head. "They appear to be unaware of what else has happened."

"Well, that won't do at all." the smiling Professor replied, suddenly holding the cigar in place. "I suspect that Jillian and Delinda will be very disappointed if Big Ed doesn't ride to their rescue." He waved his flunky off. "Order our men in Vegas to drop the hint."

"Yes, sir." the man replied, running off.

To be continued...


	3. Chapter Three

Author's Notes: If I was still doing chapter titles, I would probably name this one "The Passion of Danny"...you'll see why.

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Chapter Three

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Slowly opening the door to Danny's darkened room, Ed peeked his head inside to make sure that the younger man was still awake before entering. Sure enough, the tall, brown-haired ex-Marine was sitting in his reclined bed, staring at the white plaster cast that now covered his right arm from the base of his fingers to the middle of his forearm. A sigh escaped Ed as his blue eyes also took in the bandaged mid-section, split lip and black, left eye his protégé was now also sporting, and that wasn't even counting the numerous bumps and bruises the white blanket and hospital gown were now covering up!

"Man," Ed remarked with a smile, shaking his head as he walked in. "Please tell me that the other guy got worse."

"Ed!" a surprised Danny said, sitting up slightly and turning to his body to look at the older man. He found himself quickly regretting that action as a sudden stabbing pain radiated from his broken ribs. Hugging his stomach with one hand, Danny's eyes shut tightly and his face contorted to keep a loud cry of pain from escaping him. "Glad you're here."

"Clearly." Ed chuckled, rubbing Danny's shoulder in an attempt to soothe him. As the pain passed, McCoy opened his eyes again and let out a quick sigh of relief. "You going to be all right?"

"The Professor did this, Ed." Danny revealed, lying back against the adjusted bed again. "He's escaped from prison!"

Ed nodded his head silently for a moment, absorbing this little tidbit of information. Suddenly, curiosity filled his blue eyes and the gray-haired man looked back down at his protégé.

"Tell me everything that happened, Danny." Ed instructed, although he wasn't too sure that he wanted to know. Sitting down on the side of the hospital bed, the older man kept a supportive hand on the younger's shoulder.

Nodding, Danny closed his eyes as his mind began to flash back to the events of that morning.

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"Enough!" the Professor ordered firmly from somewhere nearby.

His four muscular henchmen backed away, revealing the battered and groaning form of Danny, lying facedown on the ground. The tall, brown-haired man had been the men's personal punching bag for what he estimated had been about a half an hour now, and his body was just now being allowed to take in the damage. McCoy felt as if every inch of his body was being burned and poked by needles at the same time, and it pained him severely to even take a breath. His shirt and pants were torn in several places, revealing bruised and bloody flesh, and the men had already taken his cell-phone and whatever money he had on him. However, Danny McCoy wasn't one to go down without a fight!

As he got to his knees and elbows, the brown-haired man looked up to see the Professor standing over him. An entertained look on the older man's features and his arms were crossed across his chest, giving off a victorious aura.

"I thought that you said you were going to stop me, Danny." the Professor reminded, the smile never leaving his face. "What happened?"

Saying nothing in response, Danny merely glared up at the older man.

"Perhaps, you should go back to dealing with small-time cheats." the Professor suggested, "It seems to be what you're more suited for. Of course, as always, you'll only do what Ed Deline wants you to do like a good, little lapdog."

"Go to hell!" an enraged Danny exclaimed, spitting on the older man.

"Pity." the Professor remarked, his unreadable eyes focused solely on Danny. "And here I was actually considering letting you walk away." Turning, he headed for a nearby desk that had been left in the warehouse. "But, it appears that you have yet to learn your lesson, Danny." He turned his head towards the men. "Bring him here!"

Prepared to fight, Danny got to his feet, but two of the much larger, more powerfully built men grabbed his arms before he could do much damage. The ex-Marine attempted to resist, but found that it only landed him a punch to the stomach from one of the remaining two men. His feet dragged across the floor as his captors brought him over to the desk. Upon seeing a heavy wrench in the Professor's hands, Danny tried to struggle once more, sensing that nothing good was coming. He was forced to grimace as the men tightened their grip on his already injured body.

"Put his right hand up here." the Professor instructed, tapping the desk with the wrench.

"Why his hand?" the goon on Danny's right side sneered, "As pretty as he is, I think his face would make a much better target!"

"His right hand will send a very distinct message to a third party." the Professor explained, keeping his gaze on Danny. As the men did as they were told, McCoy knew that the intended third party was his mentor, Ed Deline. "Hold him steady."

"No." Danny exclaimed as the Professor raised the wrench high in the air. He tried to free himself once more, but found that it was a futile effort. As the wrench was brought down, two sounds followed in succession: the cracking of bone and Danny screaming in pain.

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"Damn." Ed quietly remarked, interrupting Danny's story. Even while he shook his head in sympathy, Deline's blue eyes were fixed on the white cast that lay right by him.

"There's more." Danny continued, rubbing his aching temple with his non-injured hand. "The four guys continued to beat me up a little bit more after that, until…"

-

Even though he could hear the footsteps of the four men dying away, Danny felt no comfort whatsoever. He knew that the Professor was still lurking around out his line of sight, but his head (which was resting against the ground) hurt too much to move to find out exactly where the older man was. McCoy's cranium wasn't alone in causing him pain, as his entire body seemed to ache, especially his right hand, which he had pinned protectively between his stomach and the concrete floor beneath him. It throbbed heavily against the relatively cold floor, and tears formed in the corners of the tall, above-average looking man's eyes if he dared to move it.

"There." the Professor said to himself after Danny heard him break something else with the wrench. The ex-Marine questioned what as he heard the man's heavy footsteps coming over towards him. The older man spoke again with a more amused voice as he stopped right in front of Danny, who could barely look up at him. "If only Ed Deline could see his little protégé now. How ashamed he would be!"

Any pain was pushed out of his mind by a feeling of rage, and a silent Danny made a valiant effort to get to his feet again. However, once he got to his knees, he found that neither his legs nor his left arm had the strength to do so. He collapsed against the floor just as quickly as he had come up, which elicited a laugh from the Professor. Suddenly, fragments of something fell from the Professor's hands to the floor, scattering themselves in front of Danny.

"My cell-phone." Danny whispered, recognizing the broken pieces. For reasons he didn't even understand, he reached out for them. "No."

"Don't worry." the Professor said in a mockingly reassuring tone as Danny felt the man's foot collide with the back of his injured head. Darkness began to embrace him. "I'm sure that someone will find you eventually. Farewell, Mr. McCoy."

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"That's when I blacked out." Danny finally finished, looking into Ed's sympathetic eyes. The tall, above-average looking man shook his head. "I don't remember anything else until Dad found me."

"He's not going to get away with this, Danny." Ed promised with fierce, narrow eyes. He rested his hands supportively on the casted arm of Danny. "I promise you that I'll make the Professor pay for what he's done."

"There's something else." Danny suddenly remembered, "When he was taking me to the warehouse, he mentioned something about having another piece of business to do in Vegas before he left." McCoy shook his head. "But he didn't mention what it was."

A wave of pain suddenly erupted from his wrist, causing Danny to cry out and put his healthy hand on the cast. The doctors had warned him that there would be some pain after his surgery, but it had still caught him unprepared.

"What's wrong, kid?" a concerned Ed inquired, taking his own hands off of the cast.

"Pain." was the only word Danny had managed to say before Ed raced immediately to the door. The gray-haired man pushed it open just as a brown-haired man wearing a Clark County Police uniform was about to open it from the other side. It was Luis Perez, a detective with the force and a good friend of Danny's.

"Something wrong?" the concerned Hispanic man asked, seeing Ed's face.

"Yeah." Ed nodded as a nearby nurse took notice. "Mr. McCoy's in terrible pain."

"I assumed he was going to want some morphine by now." the friendly nurse nodded, grabbing a syringe kit and heading into the room past Ed.

"So, you here to question Danny?" Ed assumed, looking at Luis as the two men waited outside for the nurse to administer Danny's medicine.

"No actually." a nervous Luis replied, looking at Ed. "I need you to come down to the station, Ed."

"The station?" a puzzled Ed repeated.

"We found your Aston Martin abandoned in the desert with a ransom note inside." Luis sighed, rubbing the back of his head. Only the bravest of souls would volunteer to give Ed Deline this kind of information. "We think that someone may have kidnapped Jillian and Delinda."

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"Are you sure?" a dark-haired man said into his cell-phone, hoping he hadn't heard his contact right. "Both Deline women?" The voice on the other line spoke again, causing the man to rub his forehead wearily. "And McCoy's pretty bad off?" He waited again for the other party to respond. "No, no, no, Mark. Ed's got enough on his plate right now." A mischievous smile suddenly appeared on the man's features. " Besides, me and him kind of enjoy dropping in on each other." After hanging up on that call, the man dialed another just as quickly. "Yes, I want to make reservations for a trip to Las Vegas as soon as possible." The other party spoke. "That would be under the name Jack Keller."

To be continued...


	4. Chapter Four

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews

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Chapter Four

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"That…that can't be true, Luis." a stunned Ed replied, shaking his head. The gray-haired man refused to let himself believe that someone had taken his wife and daughter, especially since Danny's words about the Professor having another piece of business in Vegas were still fresh in his mind. "No, that just can't be."

"It could be a hoax, Ed." Luis admitted, unsure of what to do as he had never seen the older man look this vulnerable before. "But the plates match perfectly and we found both Jillian and Delinda's I.D.s in the car."

"God." Ed said quietly, slowly shaking his head again. Wincing, he prayed a silent prayer as the realization that his worst nightmare could be true began to hit him.

"Better?" the nurse asked the still-pained Danny, tearing him away from the conversation Luis and Ed were having. The ex-Marine could only nod at the blonde-haired female as his mind was focused too much on what he had overheard. Jillian and Delinda had presumably been kidnapped? How in the hell could that have happened, if it were true? Could it be the other piece of business the Professor had been referring to?

"I hope not." Danny whispered to himself.

The room phone rang out of the blue, startling Danny. With a slight wince as his ribs adjusted to movement, he slowly reached over and picked it up.

"Hello?" he asked, curious as to who could be calling him.

"Someone sounds better than the last time I saw them." an all too familiar voice chuckled from the other line.

"You!" Danny growled, immediately recognizing the Professor's voice. "What in the hell do you want?"

"Can't a person call an old friend in the hospital to see how they're doing?" the Professor laughed, "Of course, I can certainly understand if you don't want to talk to the person who put you in there."

"Who are you talking to?" Ed asked, wandering back over to the bed. His blue eyes curiously looking at the phone in Danny's hand. Most of the people who would care enough about Danny's condition to call him were already downstairs in the waiting room.

"Hand the phone over to him, Danny." the Professor suddenly commanded.

Although he couldn't place exactly what, something in the older man's voice made Danny do exactly as he was told.

"Who is this?" a firm Ed demanded, putting the phone to his ear.

"I think you know." the Professor replied.

"Boy, you have got to be the dumbest son of a bitch that ever lived." Ed remarked, shaking his head. A slight chuckle escaped him. "You either don't know about tracing phone calls, or you've got some masochistic side to your personality."

"You want revenge." a smiling Professor assumed with a nod. "I'm assuming because Danny Boy passed on my message to you." A laugh escaped him. "Not that he was really given a choice in the matter."

"Shut up!" Ed barked as his blue eyes narrowed in seriousness and flashed in anger. "I will make you pay dearly for what you and the assholes that work for you did to him, and by the time I'm finished, you'll be lucky to end up in a hospital bed! Do you hear me?"

"I hear you," the Professor calmly replied, "But I don't think that you'll be doing anything to me any time soon, Ed." A mock curiosity suddenly filled his voice. "Or did you not get my other message yet? I left it in your car, where the authorities would be sure to find it."

"No." a quiet, fearful Ed replied, nearly dropping the phone. He still didn't want to believe it, even if the Professor was owning up to kidnapping Jillian and Delinda. "You're lying!"

"Well, with both of them still drugged and unable to speak, it is hard to prove that I'm not." the Professor replied with a chuckle. "However, I suspect that I will make a believer out of you, Ed, when your lovely wife and daughter don't come home from their shopping trip tonight, or tomorrow, or the day after that."

"You son of a bitch!" an incensed Ed exclaimed, loud enough that Danny suspected the whole hospital must have heard him. The look of murder radiating from his eyes, and his face redder than Danny had ever seen it. "I will hunt you down and kill you with my bare hands!"

"I think that our conversation has gone far enough for now." the Professor replied, clearly amused. "Please don't worry about your wife and daughter, Ed. They're in good hands.

"You mother…" Ed started before the line went dead. As the dial tone rang in his ear, the gray-haired man slowly put the phone back on the base. Praying silently for his wife and daughter's safety, he wearily rubbed his face with his hands.

"Ed, what…" a curious Danny started, not liking his mentor's actions.

"He's got Jillian and Delinda." Ed reported sadly, slowly dropping his hands to his side once more. His quick mind was trying to figure out what exactly to do at that particular point. The ex-CIA operative wanted desperately to break everything around him, but Danny probably needed the medical equipment and the kid had already had enough damage done to him for one day.

"We've got to do something." Danny replied, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and sitting up fully. Any sleepiness in his dark eyes that had been brought on by the morphine vanished immediately. "I mean we've got to launch a rescue mission or something!"

"Launch a rescue mission?" a surprised Ed repeated, looking strangely at Danny. "Launch a rescue mission? You mean like what you did in Panama when Keller kidnapped me?"

"Exactly." Danny nodded, causing Ed to laugh like Danny had just told him a joke. A look of bewilderment fell upon the younger man's features. "What?"

"Look at yourself, Danny." Ed replied, gesturing at the ex-Marine. "You're honestly suggesting that I take someone like you, someone who's just had the crap kicked out of them and can barely walk, on a mission where the lives of my wife and daughter could be in danger?" Chuckling once more, the gray-haired man shook his head and headed for the door.

"Ed, you know that I can do this!" a desperate Danny pleaded, not wanting to be left behind. "I can help you!"

"No, kid." a sad Ed replied, stopping in the doorway and looking at the younger man one last time. "Not this time."

-  
"You sure took your time, Mr. D." Mike remarked as Ed walked back into the waiting room. Nessa, Mary, Larry and Mike were still there, but Sam was nowhere to be found. Deline suspected that the brunette probably had some whales waiting for her back at the Montecito or something. Noticing his employer's sad expression, Mike frowned in curiosity. "Mr. D.? What's wrong?"

"The Professor has broken out of prison." Ed reported frankly, looking around at the group. "He's the one responsible for the attack on Danny."

"Oh my God." a worried Nessa gasped, putting her hand over her mouth. Like Danny, the African American pit boss had also crossed the Professor in the past and could be a target for revenge. Something Ed would let happen over his cold, dead body.

"The Professor?" Larry repeated, making sure he was thinking of the right guy. "That's the guy that Danny tricked into thinking that he was joining with him, right?"

"Yeah." Mike nodded.

"There's something else." Ed sighed, rubbing the back of his head. He was afraid to even speak the words as to give the realization life. "He's also kidnapped Jillian and Delinda."

A silence descended upon the room as those who were gathered took in this tidbit of information. Nessa, who was almost family to the Delines, immediately covered her face with her hands as she sank down in a nearby chair. Seeing her friend's reaction, a sympathetic Mary sat gently down next to the black woman and put her arms around her in comfort. An obviously frustrated Mike pounded the wall behind him with his fist and Larry looked to be praying a quick prayer for the women's safety.

"Let's go back to the Montecito, Mikey." a quiet Ed said, burying his emotions once more and putting a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I want to start working on tracking down this asshole."

"You got it, Mr. D." Mike nodded as the older man headed over Larry's direction. Hearing footsteps, the elder McCoy looked up from his prayers.

"They're moving Danny to another room." Ed informed as Larry got to his feet. "Since the Professor somehow got a hold of what hospital he's in and his room number, I figured it was the safest thing to do."

"Thank you, Ed." an appreciative Larry said, nodding his head. Suddenly, his tone changed to one of remorse and he rubbed the back of his neck apologetically. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit like you that or said those things earlier."

"Ah, don't apologize for that." Ed shook his head, "I understand why you did it." His blue eyes met the dark ones of Larry's. "I promise you that I'll make this asshole pay for what he's done to both of our children."

"Give him one for me." Larry smiled, clapping Ed on the back.

Nodding in agreement at Larry, Ed slowly made his way over to where Nessa and Mary were sitting. The black woman still had her hands over her face, and failed to notice his arrival. With a sigh, Ed knelt down in front of her and gently pulled her hands away from her face.

"Sweetheart, I want you to stay here at the hospital until further notice." Ed gently instructed, wiping a few tears from her eyes. He shook his gray-haired head. "I can't be sure that the Professor's done all of his damage, and you'd be the next logical target. This is the safest place for you right now."

"I want to help you though, Ed." Nessa sniffed, "Jillian and Delinda are like family to me."

"You can help me a lot by staying here." Ed smiled as he got back to his feet. He physically turned once more towards Mike and the door. "Let's go, Mike."

To be continued...


	5. Chapter Five

Author's Notes: Thanks as always for the reviews

* * *

Chapter Five

* * *

Awakening to a throbbing head, Jillian Deline slowly got to an elbow and put a hand to her temple. The blonde-haired, older woman's eyes opened to see total darkness, immediately causing her to wonder about where she was and how she got there. Thinking back, she could remember being ambushed and drugged by strange men in the middle of nowhere, but it seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Delinda." she whispered, suddenly remembering the other victim. Terrified, Jillian looked and groped around the dark room for any sign of her daughter. Her voice rose to a shout. "Delinda!"

"Mmm." a woman's voice groaned from nearby as Jillian's hand just barely touched what seemed to be another body. Finding that she didn't have the strength yet to stand, Mrs. Deline dragged herself over to the form. She could just make out the peaceful, sleeping features of her daughter.

"Thank God." a relieved Jillian whispered, hugging the younger woman close to her and refusing to let go. "It's going to be all right, sweetie. We're going to be just fine."

However, Jillian's mind was still focused on the men who had kidnapped the pair. Who were they? What did they want from the Delines? Suspecting that she knew the answer to the question, the blonde-haired, older woman closed her eyes and whispered a question into the dark.

"Oh, Eddie. Where are you?"

* * *

Opening the door, Larry was surprised to see Danny pacing around his hospital room like a caged animal. The tall, ex-Marine didn't seem to care that the hospital gown he was wearing was doing him no favors as he cradled his stomach with his injured, right arm and let the IV pole attached to the left drag behind him. Spotting his father out of the corner of his eye, Danny stopped in his tracks immediately. This allowed Larry the ability to see a weary look in his son's eyes; similar to one he had always had as a young child just before naptime.

"Thought that you were the doctor." Danny commented as Larry closed the door behind him.

"And I thought that you were supposed to be resting." Larry replied, walking over to his son.

"Can't." an honest Danny shook his head, "Not when Ed needs my help."

"But you can't help him right now, Danny." a gentle Larry said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "You look about ready to crash. Go sit back down on your bed."

"Not now." a defiant Danny waved off, trying to stifle the enormous fatigue he admittedly did feel inside. "I've got to figure out some way to make Ed take me along on whatever he's doing."

"Daniel Leo McCoy!" a suddenly firm Larry commanded, squeezing the younger man's shoulder tightly. "You are not going anywhere until you get some rest!"

"You can't order me around anymore, Dad!" Danny fired back, glaring at his father. "I'm not a kid!"

"You either go sit back on that hospital bed," an unrelenting Larry replied, pointing at the object in question. "Or I'll call Ed, who I'm sure will be more than happy to come back here and forcibly put you in it!"

"Fine." a reluctant Danny relented, marching back over to the bed, dragging the IV pole behind him. As he clambered back up on the bed, Larry moved the pole into the correct spot. "I don't see why you're so insistent about this."

"Trust me," a grinning Larry said, covering the hospital gown-clad Danny back up with blankets. "It would be ten times worse if your mother was here."

"I just want to help Ed." Danny sighed heavily, looking up at the ceiling. A couple tears of frustration trickled down his cheek. "Is that too much to ask? I mean, I know that I'm injured, but…"

"That's never stopped you before." Larry finished with an understanding nod. He smiled gently at his son. "Tell you what, kiddo. How about you get some sleep right now, and I'll speak with your doctor to see how early you can be released from this place?" A surprised look appeared in Danny's eyes as he questioned if his father realized what his plan was after being released from the hospital. Larry simply chuckled in response. "And yes, I do know that you're planning on going on some sort of secret mission with Ed to get Jillian and Delinda back, but I also know that it would be damn near impossible to stop you."

"This is what I have to do, Dad." an almost apologetic Danny said, looking at his father directly in the eye. "And I promise you that I'll be extremely careful."

"You'd better." Larry smiled, heading for the door.

* * *

"Mr. Deline!" a wheelchair bound man named Mitch greeted as both Ed and Mike entered the surveillance room at the Montecito. Both men stopped instantly in their tracks and looked at the graying man. "There's a visitor waiting for you up in your office."

"Thanks, Mitch." Ed nodded in recognition as he continued towards the separate room. Questioning who could be dropping by at a time like this, Ed motioned for Mike to wait outside as he noticed that not only was the sliding glass door shut, but also the usually clear windows had been switched to opaque. "I'll signal you if I need any help."

"Got it, Mr. D." a serious Mike nodded as Ed slid the door open.

Instead of seeing someone standing and waiting for him like he had been expecting, Ed's sharp, blue eyes initially spotted no one else in the general vicinity. As he closed the door, a puzzled, yet annoyed expression appeared on his face. With everything the Professor had done that day, Ed was definitely not in the mood for anyone's shenanigans.

"Who the hell is in here?" his voice boomed, looking around. "And what the hell do you want?"

"You should really take an anger management class, you know that." a very familiar voice chuckled as Ed's desk chair turned to face him. The current occupant, a dark-haired, cocky-looking, slightly younger man, beamed at the surprised Deline. "Or at least figure out how to greet an old friend."

"Haven't you put me through enough today?" Ed quietly questioned, glancing up at the sky and at whatever was up there. The man was Jack Keller, his former CIA partner with whom he had a rocky relationship. The gray-haired man's blue eyes suddenly looked back at the man behind the desk. "What are you doing here, Jack?"

"Came to give you some help, if you'll take it." Jack smiled, leaning back in Ed's chair. "Although, I could really get used to this office! If you ever think about retiring, Ed…"

"Don't hold your breath." Ed shot down, narrowing his eyes briefly. Running a hand through his short hair, the older man looked curiously at his former partner. "So, what makes you think that I need your help?"

"Let's just say that I've heard about everything that's happened today." Keller replied, drumming his fingers on the desk. Knowing that Ed would be skeptical of this claim, the dark-haired man decided to prove it. "I heard that your wife and daughter are missing and have reportedly been kidnapped, and that your protégé got the crap kicked out of him." He looked curiously at Ed. "How's the kid doing, by the way?"

"I'm sure that he'll be touched to know that you actually give a damn." Ed grinned, knowing that out of all of his employees, Danny was the one that liked and trusted Keller the least. Of course, Deline could see where his protégé was coming from, seeing as how Keller had attempted to cheat the Montecito in the past and had actually tried to kill Danny during the whole Panama adventure.

"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not heartless." a shrugging Keller rolled his eyes, realizing that he probably wasn't going to get an answer to his question. "So, do you want my help getting this Professor bastard or not?"

"What's in this for you, Jack?" a curious Ed wondered, knowing that Keller always had at least one way to profit from any mission he undertook.

"Aw, geeze." Keller replied before spreading his arms out innocently. "Can't a guy just help an old friend out? Why must you be so cynical about everything, Eddie?"

"Call me Eddie again, and I will send your ass through that window." Ed warned in his usual quiet, but gruff voice. "Now, answer the damn question!"

"I did answer the question." Keller replied, finally getting up from Ed's seat. The dark-haired, slightly younger man walked casually over to his long-time friend. "I'm not looking for payment this time, man. I just want to help you out, like an old friend should."

Ed's fierce, blue eyes surveyed the man in front of him carefully as Deline silently pondered the choice he now had to make. Sure, he still didn't trust Keller as far as he could throw him, and it would take a long time before Ed could completely trust the other man again. However, someone like his former partner would be extremely useful to him right now, especially with Danny stuck in the hospital.

"It's a gamble I've got to take." Ed whispered to himself before looking at Keller straight in the eye. He raised his voice again the next time he spoke, and offered his hand to the man in front of him. "Looks like we're back in business, Jack."

"Looks like." Keller nodded in agreement, shaking Ed's hand.

To be continued...


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

A very familiar face surrounded by red hair was the first image that greeted Danny's eyes when he opened them again. Realizing who it was, a smile crossed McCoy's face and he reached up to caress the woman's face with his healthy left hand.

"Mary." he said quietly, looking into the woman's eyes.

"Hey sleepyhead." the redhead replied, smiling back at him. Her warm hands wrapping themselves around his left. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." Danny replied, noticing that he wasn't in so much pain anymore. Gently dropping his left hand, the tall, brown-haired man slowly sat up in bed and was surprised to see another visitor. "Nessa."

"Hi Danny." the black woman with a British accent greeted.

"How long have I been out?" McCoy inquired, looking back and forth between the two women. "Where's my dad?"

"About an hour." Nessa replied after glancing at her watch. She also decided to answer Danny's second question. "Your father left to get you some new street clothes."

"Street clothes?" a confused Danny repeated as the blonde nurse from before walked in, carrying what appeared to be Danny's dinner: chicken and rice as well as some other food. "Am I being released?"

"Yes." Mary replied as the nurse set the food down on the rolling, bedside table. The red-haired Connell neither sounded nor looked too happy about that fact. Danny assumed it was because, like his father, she too knew what Danny's intentions were after being released from the hospital.

"The doctor wanted to examine you one more time after dinner." the blonde nurse clarified, working on disconnecting Danny's IV. "But you'll be free to sign yourself out after that." After she put a bandage on the entry site, the nurse looked one last time at Danny as she headed out with the IV pole in tow. "Bon appetit."

"Thanks." an appreciative Danny said as the door closed behind the nurse. Famished, he picked up the container nearest to him, which looked to contain some sort of gelatin resting on a leaf of lettuce. McCoy stared long and hard at it, trying to decide whether or not he should actually consume it. "And I thought military rations were bad."

* * *

"Where do you think we are, Mom?" Delinda asked, finally sitting up after taking a few moments to wake up properly. The blonde-haired daughter of Ed Deline kept one hand safely in her mother's while rubbing her aching temple with the other.

"I don't know, sweetheart." an honest Jillian answered, looking around in the darkness at the small room surrounding them. She slowly shook her blonde-haired head. "But I don't like it."

Two things suddenly happened at once, startling the Deline women; the door to the room swung open just as someone on the outside turned on the room's previously unused, overhead lights. Both blonde women winced slightly as the light hit their eyes, which had adjusted to the darkness, but immediately kept their eyes open upon hearing footsteps. Two men had entered the room, carrying what appeared to be food and water respectively. The food bearer set down his tray before kneeling in front of the two women. Out of maternal instinct, Jillian hugged Delinda close.

"We can tell the boss that they both appear to be fine." the man called over his shoulder to his friend, who handed him the water. It was set next to the food. "They're a little shaken up, but that's to be expected."

"Who are you guys?" Jillian demanded, glancing back and forth between the two men. "What do you want?"

"The real question is how did someone like Ed Deline land a beauty like you." the man smiled, caressing Jillian's face with his hand. Forcibly, she threw the man's hand off of her before slapping him in the face. Putting a hand to his cheek, the man growled in anger. "You bitch. You'll pay for that!"

"Lay a hand on her, and what we did to McCoy will look like child's play!" the Professor's voice suddenly boomed as the man himself appeared in the doorway to the room. The gray and black haired man nodded outside, issuing his minions a silent yet firm order to leave.

"McCoy?" a curious Delinda repeated as the Professor's men did as they were told. The younger, blonde-haired woman looked up at the man who had just arrived. "What did you do to Danny?"

"Nothing he won't live through." the Professor replied, shaking his head slightly. "I daresay that your father probably had worse in mind after finding the pair of you in bed together."

"What do you want?" a curious Jillian demanded, glaring at the man standing above her. "Why are you doing this?"

"Well, that's the thing." the Professor smirked, crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm not actually the mastermind behind all of this." A laugh suddenly escaped him. "Oh, to see the look on Ed's face when he finds out who is."

* * *

"Damn." Jack Keller sighed, folding up his cell-phone. Getting up from the couch, he ran a hand through his dark hair in frustration and looked across the room at Ed. "My sources don't know anything yet about where Jillian and Delinda have been taken."

"Tracing the call to Danny's hospital room is out too." Mike announced, walking into the office. Pausing in front of his employer's desk, the bald, usually jovial man shook his head. "Police are already on it, and Luis is refusing to let us have access."

Both of these tidbits of information were acknowledged by a silent nod from Ed Deline, whose forehead was resting in his hand and whose blue eyes, while aimed at his desk, had a sad, far away look to them. It was obvious that neither his heart nor mind was there in that office, but was instead with Jillian and Delinda wherever they were.

Deline was broken out of this trance when the opaque glass door was heard sliding open. Having given his employees a strict order earlier not to bother him, an enraged Ed looked up, ready to bite someone's head off. Upon seeing who had entered, Deline cooled his anger just slightly and remained silent.

"What's going on?" a curious Danny wondered, sliding the door behind him closed with his healthy, left arm. Both Keller and Mike turned to look at him upon hearing the tall, ex-Marine's voice.

"Well," a chuckling Keller commented, looking up and down at Danny's injured body. "Looks like you definitely pissed off the wrong person, pretty boy."

"Jack?" a surprised Danny asked before looking past Keller to Ed. "What in the hell is he doing here?"

"Mike," a quiet Ed requested, breaking his silence. Leaning back in his chair, Deline folded his hands on his stomach. "Why don't you take Jack into the surveillance room? Show him some of the latest gizmos we've got here."

"But, Mr. D., we haven't gotten anything new since he was last here." a confused Mike pointed out.

"I'm sure that you're bound to have something that I'm interested in, Mikey." a smiling Keller remarked, knowing that Ed was just trying to get the two other men out of the office, so that he could speak with Danny alone.

"All right." Mike nodded as he and Keller headed for the door. "Someone should probably be keeping an eye on the floor anyway."

As the opaque glass door closed again behind the departing pair, the office was suddenly immersed in an awkward silence as Danny and Ed stared at each other, both thinking of what he wanted to say to the other.

"You want to tell me why in the hell you're here?" Ed asked, slowly standing up.

"I was released from the hospital." Danny replied, looking confidently back at the older man. "The docs said that I was in good enough shape to go home."

"I wasn't talking about that, but I'm happy to hear it." Ed said, walking over to just a few feet in front of McCoy. It wasn't that Deline didn't know that McCoy was there to make him change his mind about not taking the ex-Marine on this tentative rescue mission Ed was planning on, but he wanted to hear Danny say it himself. "I want to know why you came here to my office?"

"You know why I'm here, Ed." Danny replied, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Actually, I don't." Ed shook his head, "Because I thought that I made myself perfectly clear at the hospital." Unrelenting, he looked directly into Danny's eyes. "You're not going, Danny. You're more of a liability than an asset right now." He sighed, knowing that he was only inflicting more pain on Danny. "I'm sorry, kid, but my decision is final."

Nodding silently, Danny let Ed's words sink in for a brief moment. He had been thinking on the car ride over to the Montecito about what to do if Ed didn't relentand had come up with a plan B: If Ed wouldn't let him help, then Danny would just have to do this on his own. Sure, it would be harder without Ed's experience, but McCoy thought that, by using the skills he had learned in his Special Ops training, he could manage.

"Then, I guess that I should apologize for wasting both of our time." Danny said, looking at Ed with a meek smile. "Well, I should probably go back home and get some more rest."

"Or start working on this on your own." Ed sighed, wearily rubbing his forehead. Stunned, Danny's smile immediately disappeared. "You forgot that I know you like the back of my hand, kid."

"Then, you know what you need to do to stop me." Danny replied, stuffing his healthy hand into his pants pocket. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Besides putting me in Intensive Care."

Remaining where he stood, Ed silently stared long and hard at Danny for a brief moment. McCoy could tell from one look in the older man's blue eyes that his mentor was trying to decide what to do with him. Suddenly, the older man sighed and headed for his nearby desk.

"Did you give your commanding officers this much trouble?" Ed casually inquired while unlocking a desk drawer that Danny had never seen him before.

"They didn't deserve it." a grinning Danny fired back as Ed reached into the drawer and pulled something out of it. Seeing that the item in question was a small handgun, the younger man's smile quickly changed into a nervous frown. "Okay, I take that back, and I was just kidding about the Intensive Care thing."

"How that's old line go?" Ed asked as he walked back over to Danny. "If I wanted to shoot you, you'd already be dead?" He offered the gun to McCoy, who reached for it with his healthy, left hand. "Other hand."

Finally understanding what Ed was doing, Danny nodded and slowly extended his casted right arm. The ex-CIA agent was making sure that Danny could still hold and aim a gun with his broken wrist. The ability would most likely be needed on the rescue operation, and if Danny couldn't do it, even he himself would have to admit that Ed was doing the right thing by leaving him behind. Although the white plaster near the base of his fingers made it harder than usual, McCoy was able to get a grip on the gun and aimed it directly at the window in front of him. He was anxious to see if he could squeeze the trigger.

"Break that window and it's coming out of your paycheck." Ed suddenly warned, folding his arms across his chest. Silently smiling, Danny lowered the gun and smiled at Ed. "Well, since you're not leaving me much of a choice, I guess I'm going to have to let you come along on this one."

"Thanks, Ed." an appreciative Danny replied, handing the gun back to his mentor. "So, do you have any idea where the Professor's taken Jillian and Delinda?"

"No." Ed sighed deeply as he locked the handgun back up in his desk. "Jack's contacts don't know anything, and Mike said that Luis is blocking us from having access to your former room and subsequently the telephone number, so we can't get a trace."

"I could probably get in there." Danny realized, rubbing the cast on his arm. "Shouldn't be too hard to fool the staff into thinking that I forgot something."

"Why don't you go do that?" Ed suggested with a nod. "Take Jack with you." Seeing Danny open his mouth to object, Ed immediately cut him off. "I'm not letting you go anywhere alone right now, kid. Got me?"

"Got it." Danny nodded reluctantly, heading towards the surveillance room.

To be continued...


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

* * *

"Don't see why I had to come in with you." Keller chuckled right as he and Danny entered the hospital. "You could have just left me in the car, you know?"

"Not after the way you kept remarking about how nice it was." Danny shook his head, glancing quickly at the older man beside him. The brown-haired, above-average looking man still questioned his mentor's rationale behind trusting him. "That car belonged to my mother, Jack. Forgive me if I don't want anyone to steal it."

"Ouch! That hurts, Danny Boy." Keller replied, wincing and putting a hand to his heart in mock offense. Had he not noticed the wide grin on the older, darker haired man's face, McCoy might have taken him as serious. "Remind me again, what have I ever done to you?"

"You can't be serious." Danny answered, pausing immediately in his tracks and facing the other man. "Do you not remember Panama? Do you seriously not remember trying to kill me?"

"Oh, come on, kid!" a hysterical Keller laughed, rolling his eyes and patting Danny on the back. "That wasn't even remotely personal!"

"Yeah, right." a skeptical Danny replied before suddenly spotting the blonde nurse who had taken care of him. "Excuse me."

"Oh," the woman replied, looking at him. "Mr. McCoy, what are you doing back here?"

"I think that I may have forgotten something in the room I was originally put in." Danny said with a small smile, "Would you mind if I went in there and looked around?"

"Go right ahead." the blonde nodded, motioning towards the room. "Although, it's probably been taken to the lost and found by now. The police have been in there all day, looking for something."

"Are they still in there?" a curious Danny questioned, hoping that the answer was no. "Because I wouldn't want to interrupt a police investigation…"

"They're on lunch." the nurse replied, "Well, if you'll excuse me, I've got patients to attend to."

"Smooth, kid." Keller complimented as the two men walked into the room. "All right, what are we looking for?"

"The phone number." Danny replied, immediately heading for the bedside phone. He remembered seeing the number for the room written on the base. "Once Ed gets a hold of it, he can trace the call and find out where the Professor was most likely calling from." Picking up the phone, he scribbled the number down on a nearby paper towel.

"Got it?" a curious Keller inquired.

"Got it." Danny nodded, stuffing the paper towel into his pocket. "Let's go."

"Not so fast!" a voice commanded from behind the retreating Danny. McCoy immediately turned around again to see Luis standing there with his arms folded across his chest and an accusing look in his eyes.

* * *

"You know, girls don't really go for stalking." Sam hissed into Mike's ear as she noticed the bald, African American man spying on Nessa from behind a row of slot machines. The black pit boss with shoulder length hair didn't seem to notice the pair.

"I'm not stalking her." Mike replied, glancing at the brunette beside him. "Ed told me to keep an eye on her." He shook his head. "Especially since we're not sure where the Professor is right now, or what he's planning to do."

"You really think he'd go after Nessa?" Sam asked, clearly worried for her friend. "You really think that he'd pull something here?"

"He's already gone after Danny and Big Ed." Mike nodded, watching Nessa as she traveled from pit to pit.

"He went after Ed?" a confused Sam inquired.

"You didn't hear." Mike slowly realized, taking his eyes off of Nessa for a second. Not knowing how the woman beside him would take the news, he held Sam's hands in his own. "The Professor called Danny and Ed on the phone, and basically owned up to kidnapping Jillian and Delinda."

"Man's got a death wish." a grinning Sam remarked as both her and Mike turned their eyes back to the floor, "I thought everyone knew not to mess with Ed Deline's family."

"Well, he'll have more than Ed and Danny gunning for him if he goes after Nessa." a serious Mike promised, not taking his eyes off of Holt. "I can guarantee that."

* * *

"Luis." Danny greeted with an innocent look.

"What are you doing in here, Danny?" Luis asked, even though he already suspected. "I thought that the hospital would be the last place you would want to see right now."

"I forgot something." Danny shrugged.

"Like the phone number?" Luis said, looking intently into Danny's eyes. The brown-haired, Hispanic detective closed the door behind him with as he noticed the innocent expression quickly vanish from his friend's face. "Don't tell me that Ed's planning on doing his usual thing."

"Can you blame the guy, man?" a curious Danny asked, "I mean, the Professor kidnapped his wife and daughter for God's sake. You can't tell me that you wouldn't do the same thing."

"No, I'd let the law handle it like any sane person would." Luis replied before sighing deeply and putting a hand to his forehead. "I don't know why I'm so surprised, because I know that you and Ed believe that the police can't handle anything."

"Or maybe we just prefer to handle some things on our own." Danny fired back, realizing that he was wasting time. Time that could mean life or death for Jillian and Delinda. He pulled the paper towel out from his pocket, and handed it to Keller, who was standing behind him. "Why don't you go outside and call Ed? He needs that number ASAP."

"You didn't say the magic word." Keller smiled, remaining where he stood.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Danny grumbled, quickly putting his forehead in his left hand. The tall, brown-haired man planned on giving it to Ed the minute he got back to the Montecito for sticking him with the dark-haired man. He dropped his hand and looked wearily back up. "Please?"

"Okay." Keller replied after thinking it over for a moment.

"And don't go anywhere near my car!" Danny warned the retreating man. As the door shut again behind Keller, McCoy sighed heavily. "What in the hell did I do to deserve being stuck with him?"

"How much time do you have?" a teasing Luis smiled, looking at his friend.

"Very funny." Danny replied, glaring at his detective friend.

"You should probably be getting back to the Montecito." Luis said, "Ed probably wants to leave the minute that he gets a location."

"Most likely." Danny nodded, knowing his mentor all too well.

"Take care of yourself, man." Luis instructed, suddenly hugging the ex-Marine. "We've already lost Greg." He shook his head. "I don't want to have to lose you too."

"Don't worry." Danny promised, hugging his friend back. "You won't."

* * *

"So, how much is Ed paying you to spy on me?" Nessa asked as she walked quickly past Mike, who was still camped out behind a row of slot machines. Seeing the black woman headed towards the innards of the casino, Cannon gave up his post and followed her.

"He's not." Mike replied, appearing at her side. "He just wants me to keep an eye on you. That's all."

"Did it ever occur to Ed or you that I'm a big girl?" Nessa inquired, opening one of the many hidden doors that led to the back of the Montecito, where only employees were allowed to go. "I can take care of myself."

"Mr. D. doesn't want to take any chances, Ness." Mike explained, "That's all." Deciding to change subjects, the African American man stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. "So, what brings you back to this part of the Montecito?"

"I just thought I'd see what the latest is on Jillian and Delinda." a sad Nessa sighed, stopping by the doorway that led directly to Ed's office. "And see how Ed is."

"The real question is how are you doing." Mike said, putting his hand on the woman's shoulder. "I mean, I know that the Delines are like family to you, so it's got to be pretty rough for you too right now."

"I'm fine." Nessa reassured, waving Mike's concern off.

"You sure?" a curious Mike asked, "Because I'm here if you need to talk to someone."

"I know." an appreciative Nessa nodded before kissing Mike quickly on the cheek. "Thank you, Mike."

"You're welcome." Cannon blushed as Nessa headed into Ed's office.

* * *

"No way in hell." Danny remarked as he exited the hospital. Stuffing his cell-phone back into his pants pocket, Keller looked curiously at McCoy from the driver's seat of the latter's yellow and black Camaro convertible.

"What?" he asked innocently, but with a teasing grin on his face.

"You are not driving my car." a firm Danny replied, "Did you get a hold of Ed yet?"

"Yep." Keller nodded, reluctantly sliding into the passenger seat. "He's apparently working on getting a location as we speak."

"Good." Danny replied, sitting down. As a dull ache appeared in his broken ribs, he winced and put a hand to his mid-section. McCoy realized that his painkillers were wearing off. "Damn! Maybe you should drive."

"Fine by me." a grinning Keller shrugged, getting out of the car.

To be continued...


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

* * *

"Ed?" a gentle Nessa asked, remaining at the top of the stairs that led into the older man's office until she received some sort of verbal recognition. Having one ear to his office phone, Deline's blue eyes were fixed firmly on a map in front of him, but traveled over to Holt for a brief second.

"Come on in, honey." Ed invited warmly, putting the phone to his shoulder for a brief second. The man with graying hair motioned to the empty seat in front of his desk, causing Nessa to walk over and sit down. "I'll be with you in just a second, all right?"

"Yeah." Nessa nodded as Ed put the phone back to his ear.

"Give me those coordinates again." Ed asked whoever was on the other end of the phone call. Nodding his head as the information came to him, Deline scribbled some numbers down on the edge of the map. "And you're absolutely sure that that's where the call came from?" Nessa could just barely hear the voice of the person on the other line. "All right. Thank you."

"Is that where Jillian and Delinda are?" a curious Nessa inquired as Ed hung up the phone.

"It's where the call came from." Ed nodded, his blue eyes darting between the map and the numbers on the side, trying to find the correct pair. "But it could just be the Professor pulling our leg." His eyes suddenly stopped dead in their tracks and a smile appeared on his face. "Got it!

"What?" Nessa asked curiously, trying to figure out what the older man was looking at. "Where did the call come from?"

"Ecuador." Ed replied, finally looking into the black woman's eyes.

* * *

"I'm never riding with you again!" Danny exclaimed as Keller finally pulled the yellow and black Camaro convertible into his driveway. Seeing as how Danny was now in quite a bit of pain, the pair had decided to stop at McCoy's house on their way back to the Montecito, so that the ex-Marine could take the painkillers he had been prescribed. Of course, he now felt that a drink of something was also required to forget about the numerous near-wrecks they had almost gotten into on the way, thanks in large part to Keller's madcap driving. 

"Ah, lighten up, Danny Boy." Keller laughed hysterically as he got out of the car. "I got us here in one piece, didn't I?" As the ex-CIA agent slowly stopped laughing, he looked curiously at the younger man. "You need any help?"

"No, I'm good." Danny groaned, waving off Keller's offer as he got to his feet. His casted right arm hugged his throbbing midsection protectively, and he slammed the passenger side door of his car shut with his left. "Thanks for the offer though."

"Careful, kid." Keller grinned as both men headed for the front door. "You're starting to act at least civil."

"Hurts too much to argue." Danny smiled back as the front door to his house suddenly opened, startling him. It took him a moment to remember that a certain someone had just moved in with him. "Hey Mary."

"I knew that you'd be wanting these by now." the red-haired woman smiled, holding the pill bottle she had picked up from the pharmacy for Danny. She stepped back to let the two men enter the house, puzzled at seeing Danny's companion. "Jack Keller?"

"Ah, Ms. Connell!" Keller greeted with his voice full of charm. "Always a pleasure."

"Why don't you two go sit down in the living room while I get Danny's medicine?" Mary suggested, smiling at Jack's greeting. Not knowing why, Danny felt a quick surge of jealousy run through him.

"Okay." Danny agreed as the two men headed into the adjoining living room.

"Pretty nice place you got here." Keller remarked, looking around Danny's house. "Eddie's got to be paying you pretty well."

"He lets you call him Eddie?" a surprised Danny asked, "I thought that only Jillian and, occasionally, his mother could call him that."

"It's a quick way to get on his nerves." Keller smiled as Mary reentered the room with a glass of water.

"Here you go." she said, putting a single pill in Danny's partly-casted right hand and the glass of water in his healthy left.

"Thanks." an appreciative Danny said before downing the pill.

"So, did you figure out where Jillian and Delinda are yet?" a curious Mary asked, causing Danny, who had just taken a drink of water, to shake his head silently.

"We're working on it." Danny replied after swallowing his drink. The phone suddenly rang from the end table behind him, causing him to quickly turn around. His ribs let him know their displeasure at that course of actions as he set his water down on the table and picked the phone up. He quickly recognized the phone number on the Caller ID as that of Mike's cell. "Yeah, Mikey?"

"Mr. D.'s got a location." Mike reported, causing a wide smile to appear on Danny's face. Finally! "He wants you and Keller to get back here ASAP."

"We'll be right there." Danny promised with a nod, "Tell him we stopped by my place real quick, so I could pop a few painkillers."

"Will do, man." Mike nodded in response before hanging up the phone.

* * *

"Come in." Ed replied, looking at the sliding glass door to his office after hearing a knock. With a wide smile on his face, Mike slid the door open and walked inside.

"Danny and Jack are on their way." Mike replied, lightly tapping his cell-phone against the palm of his opposite hand. "They just stopped at Danny's really quick, so he could take some pills."

"Pain's got to be coming back to him by now." Ed realized with a quiet nod. As he suddenly thought of something, the gray-haired man sat up in his chair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk. "Do me a favor?"

"Anything." Mike replied as Ed tossed his car keys at the African American man, who caught them in one hand.

"You remember that room Jillian showed you before the whole Panama fiasco?" a curious Ed inquired, "The one just off of my basement?"

"You mean the one that I'm surprised that it still hasn't been reported to Homeland Security?" Mike grinned, knowing all too well about Ed's extensive weapons cache.

"It ever does, I'm taking it out of your ass." Ed warned, pointing a finger at Mike. "Anyway, I need you to get some stuff out of there for our little trip, and load it into the Hummer." He paused for a brief moment. "Why don't you take Nessa with you?"

"Nessa?" a surprised Mike asked, "Is she going with us to Ecuador?"

"I don't think we can stop her." Ed replied candidly, shaking his head. "Just like Danny, even if I told her to stay here, I know she'd go on her own."

"Okay." Mike nodded, trying to figure it out in his head. "So, we need enough weaponry for five people: you, me, Jack, Danny and Nessa."

"Six people." Ed sighed deeply, suddenly looking at the ceiling. "I have a feeling that someone else will insist on going with us the minute she hears that Danny is going."

* * *

"You're not going." Danny said firmly, crossing his arms across his chest. Shutting the door to his bedroom, the brown-haired man mentally berated himself for making the mistake of telling Mary that Ed had allowed him to go on the rescue operation. "It's way too dangerous!"

"Which is why I need to go." Mary maintained, not backing down in the slightest. "I need to make sure that you don't do anything stupid and get yourself hurt even worse."

"You two need me to referee your little lovers' quarrel?" a curious Keller called from the living room downstairs, where Danny and Mary had left him.

"Keep out of this!" Danny shouted, opening the door behind him just long enough to yell at Keller. As he closed it again, he turned back to Mary, who was going through his closet. It was enough to sidetrack his curious mind. "What are you doing?"

"Danny, you're wearing a red shirt." Mary commented, not taking her eyes off of the hanging shirts in front of her. "Do you know how fast someone is going to be able to spot that?" Finding a camouflage t-shirt, the red-haired woman threw at him. "Here! Change into this."

"You don't need to play bodyguard, Mary." Danny said, getting back to their original conversation. As he spoke, he slowly removed his shirt, careful not to bother any of his injuries. "I can take care of myself, and I don't need to be worrying about your safety."

"I can take care of myself too." Mary pointed out as Danny gently put the camouflage t-shirt on. With a weak smile, the red-haired woman reached over his shoulder and tucked the tag in for him. "Besides, I want to help get Jillian and Delinda back as much as you do."

"But there's a big difference between wanting to do something," Danny replied, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "And actually being able to do it."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" a curious, angry Mary snapped.

"When we were kids, you couldn't even make it through those fake camping trips where we just stayed the night in my backyard." Danny explained, although he felt like he was shrinking as he looked into Mary's narrow, brown eyes. "What makes you think that you can make it through a place like Ecuador, where there's rainforests and God knows what else?"

"Because I'm not a little girl anymore," Mary replied, barely controlling her anger. Suddenly turning on her heel, she headed directly for the bedroom door. "And, if for no other reason, to stick it you!"

Wincing as the bedroom door slammed shut behind his best friend, Danny fell back on his bed and rested his casted, right arm on his forehead. He just couldn't let Mary go with him on such a dangerous mission, yet he saw no way of stopping the determined, red-haired woman. What in the hell was he supposed to do now?

To be continued...


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

* * *

The bedside phone suddenly rang and a still deep in thought Danny lazily reached over to answer it with his healthy, left arm.

"Hello?"

"What in God's name are you still doing at home?" Ed quietly demanded from the other end, "Get your ass back here immediately!"

"I've kind of run into a little problem, Ed." Danny explained, slowly sitting up again. "Mary's insistent on coming with us!" He shook his brown-haired head. "I've tried to tell her no, but she won't listen to reason."

"Yeah, I thought that might happen." Ed nodded, leaning back in his chair. "I guess that we're just going to have to take her with us, kid. But at least it'll give Nessa someone to talk to."

"Nessa?" a stunned Danny repeated, "Nessa's coming with us?"

"Yeah." Ed sighed heavily, still thinking about the wisdom of that decision. Of course, he had similar thoughts about everyone else that was supposed to go so far: Danny was too injured, Mike may be too inexperienced, and Keller…well, could he even be trusted? "Much like you, I know that she'd just attempt to do this on her own if we left her behind."

"Yeah, probably." Danny nodded, getting up from his bed.

"At any rate," Ed said, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "Get over here before I get really pissed off, all right?"

"Got it." Danny replied before hanging up the phone.

* * *

Just as Ed had hung up his own phone, the door to his office slid open and Sam Marquez walked a few steps inside. Keeping her eyes on her employer, the brown-haired casino hostess flipped a strand of her dark hair back over her shoulder.

"You wanted to see me?" she asked, clasping her hands together in front of her.

"Yeah, I did." Ed nodded in response. "I'm, uh, I'm going to need to borrow one of the corporate jets for a few days, and I just wanted to make sure that we don't have any big whales coming in that need them." "I don't think we do." an uncertain Sam said before quickly pulling her P.D.A. out of her pocket and checking it. "Nope, you're good to go."

"Good." a happy Ed smiled, glad something about this rescue operation was going right. "I'm going to need one of our smaller ones, and we're not going to be needing a pilot."

"…Because you don't want anyone unnecessary or untrustworthy going along on this mission." Sam assumed with a nod.

"What mission?" the gray-haired man retorted casually.

"You know that I'm smarter than that, Ed." Sam smiled, sitting down in front of the desk. "I know that you're planning on going and rescuing Jillian and Delinda from God knows where." A curious look appeared in her eyes. "So, who else is going?"

"Just Jack, Mike, Nessa, Danny and Mary." Ed replied, clasping his hands together and resting them on his desk.

"So, everyone but me." Sam nodded, looking away.

"Sam, this is a very dangerous mission." Ed said in a fatherly tone, realizing that, like everyone else, Sam wanted to go with him. "If you come along, sweetheart, I can't guarantee your safety or even that'll you come back alive."

"I understand that, Ed." Sam replied, looking into the older man's eyes. A smile suddenly appeared on her face. "But, the adventurous side of my personality just won't let me say no to this, and, besides, someone's got to make sure that Nessa and Mary don't screw things up."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Nessa asked as her and Mike re-entered the office, back from their mission to collect weaponry from Ed's private cache. The black woman of British descent put her hands on her hips, and stared at Marquez.

"The Hummer loaded up?" Ed inquired, looking at Mike. The gray-haired man knew it was best to keep the teasing banter that often popped up among his employees to a minimum. Otherwise, nothing would ever get accomplished.

"Got enough for a small army." Mike replied with a nod.

"Good." a pleased Ed replied, rolling up the map on his desk. He slowly rose from his seat. "Let's go meet Jack, Danny and Mary in the parking lot. We've already wasted enough time."

The other three people muttered their agreement and headed for the exit. After stepping out onto the surveillance room floor, Ed looked around at the remaining staff as a few of them had turned their heads to see what was going on.

"Mitch! Sarasvarti!" he called, putting his hand up in the air. Almost immediately, a wheelchair-bound, older man and a young, Asian woman came up to him. "Me and the others have got an errand to do out of town, so I'm leaving you two in charge until I get back."

"It's that urgent, huh?" Mitch inquired, looking into his boss's blue eyes.

"Yeah." Ed nodded in confirmation, "Listen, I'm going to be taking Danny, Mary, Mike, Nessa and Sam with me, so you will be a little short-handed."

"We can handle it, Mr. Deline." Sarasvarti assured with a smile, knowing that if Ed was taking those people, it had to be something big.

"Yeah, I'm sure you can." Ed smiled back before heading for the exit himself.

* * *

The yellow and black Camaro convertible sped into the Montecito employee parking lot, getting the attention of the group gathered around Ed's Hummer H2. A grinning Keller sat in the driver's seat, turning the car off, while a sick looking Mary sat in the front passenger, eventually dropping her hands from her face. An annoyed Danny carefully hopped out from the back. 

"Damn it." he proclaimed, putting a hand to his forehead. "Why in the hell did I put myself through that again?"

"Because the medicine said not to drive after taking it." Keller smiled, roughly clapping Danny on the back. McCoy winced as the older man's rough hand collided with a few of the bruises he had earned from his mugging.

"About time you guys got here." Ed remarked, shutting the doors to the back of his Hummer, where the gray-haired man had been organizing the weapons that Mike and Nessa had retrieved from his collection. "Sam's already set us up with a private jet…"

"Yeah, but we don't have a pilot." Sam pointed out, "In your office, you told me that we didn't need one. Remember?" "We don't." Ed confirmed with a nod. "Both Jack and I have valid pilot's licenses, so we'll be flying the plane."

"You really expect us to get on that plane?" a skeptical, stunned Danny inquired before gesturing to Keller. "After seeing the way that he drives?"

"No one said that you had to come along, kid." Ed replied with a smile. Suddenly, his smile vanished and a firm look appeared in his blue eyes as he looked at the people around him. "Let's get to the air strip. Jack, why don't you come with me in my car? I think you've worn out your welcome on the Camaro."

"You mean, I can drive the Hummer?" a grinning Keller asked, knowing that Deline would rather die than let someone else behind the wheel of his beloved vehicle.

"You can in your dreams." Ed replied, returning Jack's smile.

"No way in hell." Mary commented upon seeing Danny getting behind the wheel of his yellow and black convertible. The smiling, red-haired woman walked over to the driver's side door. "You're not supposed to be driving under the influence, remember?" She motioned for the keys. "Give them here."

"So, you're actually speaking to me again?" a surprised Danny asked, getting out of the car and handing Mary the keys. He could have just slid over to the passenger seat, but he didn't think his injured body would like that very much.

"Hmm." Mary nodded as both sat down in their respective seats. "Just as long as no more of that chauvinistic crap about women not being able to do this comes out of your mouth."

"I didn't mean to be chauvinistic, Mary." Danny apologized with a weary sigh as the two vehicles exited the Montecito employee parking lot and emerged on the Las Vegas strip. He put his healthy, left hand to his forehead. "I just…I just don't want you to get hurt."

"And who said that I'm going to get hurt?" Mary asked, glancing quickly at her best friend.

"Well, nobody." Danny yawned in response, "But you can't guarantee that you won't."

"Sounds like those painkillers are making someone sleepy." Mary smiled.

"Yeah, I'll probably sleep on the plane." Danny nodded, readjusting in his seat. "After I find out what exactly the plan is after we arrive in Ecuador from Ed and Jack."

"You can close your eyes for a few moments now if you want to." Mary said, checking to make sure that the red Hummer H2 was still in front of them. "I'll wake you up when we get to the airport."

"Thanks, Mary." an appreciative Danny replied, curling up in his seat as best he could.

* * *

"All right, thanks." Keller said into his cell-phone before flipping the object shut. The dark-haired, former CIA agent turned to Ed, who was next to him in the driver's seat. "My contact said that the Professor was reportedly spotted earlier today with Jillian and Delinda in tow."

"Did he say how they are?" a curious Nessa inquired, leaning forward from the backseat.

"According to who he talked to," Keller said, keeping his eyes on the silent Ed. "they appeared to be drugged, but all right otherwise."

"Bastard doesn't want them to know where they are." Ed nodded, realizing that that would keep in line with how a typical kidnapper thought. Thinking of something, his blue eyes traveled over to Keller for a brief second. "How reliable is this contact of yours, Jack?"

"Pretty damn reliable." Keller assured with a smile, turning away from Ed and looking out the window.

* * *

"I just heard from the big boss." the man who had harassed Jillian earlier reported as he walked into a small, darkened room, holding his cell-phone up with one hand. The Professor sat with his back to the man, watching the Deline women on a black and white surveillance monitor. "Deline's apparently on his way to an airstrip in Vegas with every intention of coming here." 

"I expected him to find us a whole lot faster." an amused Professor remarked with a smirk. "He must be losing his touch. Anything else to report?"

"The Big 5 appear to coming with him," the man continued, "even McCoy."

"You would think that Danny Boy would have learned his lesson by now." the Professor chuckled, "But it appears that he's a very slow learner." Without turning in his seat, he waved off his employee. "Why don't you go and ready our special guests? After all, I'm sure that our host will be very upset if we're late for the party."

"Right away." the man nodded, heading back down the hall towards the room where Jillian and Delinda were being kept.

To be continued...


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

* * *

As he started to wake up again, Danny wondered why he felt like he was floating several feet off of the ground. The tall, brown-haired rolled onto his right side, trying to get comfortable on some sort of weird pillow that rested under his head. He could hear the quiet voices of Sam, Mike, and Nessa nearby, which made no sense as the trio hadn't been in the Camaro where he had fallen asleep. McCoy opened his eyes to see nothing but dark green fabric staring back at him. His eyes traveled upwards until they came to a stop on Mary's familiar face. As the red-haired woman smiled down at him, Danny finally realized that the "weird pillow" was her lap.

"You're awake." Mary noticed, gently playing with his hair.

"Where are we?" a curious Danny inquired, getting to an elbow and looking around. His question was answered almost immediately as the semi-familiar interior of one of the Montecito's private jets came into view. It also cured his puzzlement as to why he felt like he was floating. "How in the hell did I get on the plane?"

"Mike and Ed carried you in." Mary explained as Danny sat up fully on the black leather sofa. She shook her head. "You looked so peaceful in the Camaro that nobody wanted to wake you. How are you feeling?"

"All right." Danny replied, rubbing the remaining sleep from his eyes with his left hand. Stretching his arms behind his head, he got to his feet, but needed a few minutes to get his balance adjusted due to being up in the air. "I should probably go talk to Ed, and get the mission specifics."

"Yeah," Mary nodded, "he said that he wanted to see you when you woke up."

Nodding back in response, Danny headed for the nearby door, which led to the cockpit. It slid open just as McCoy reached out his own hand to do so, and a surprised Ed Deline was revealed to be standing on the other side.

"So, you're awake." Ed remarked, sliding the door closed behind him.

"Yeah." Danny replied, stifling a yawn. "Where exactly are we?"

"We just crossed the border from Arizona to Mexico." Ed replied, motioning for Danny to follow him over to a nearby table, where a map was layed out, and chairs. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah." Danny replied before thinking. "You really think that it's smart to leave you-know-who in the cockpit, all alone?"

"Absolutely." Ed nodded, sitting down in one of the chairs. "Keller might not be the most reliable, but he's not suicidal." The gray-haired man chuckled as his protégé sat down. "Besides, the bastard knows that if anything were to happen, my spirit would haunt his ass." Stifling his laughter, Deline pointed to a black spot on the map. "According to the trace we ran, the phone call was made here in the town of Cuenca."

"That's right on the Andes Mountains." Danny noticed, looking at the map.

"Jack's contact apparently knows of a small airport around there where we can land without attracting too much attention to ourselves." Ed continued, taking his finger off of the black spot. "If the Professor realizes we're coming, he might do something to Jillian and Delinda."

"But how do we find him?" a curious Danny wondered, looking into his mentor's eyes. "I mean, it's been hours since that phone call was made, Ed. He's probably in Colombia, Peru, or even Brazil by now. Cuenca is probably just a memory."

"We should still be able to find some trace of him there." Ed countered, not willing to be anything, but optimistic. "And Jack does have contacts in the area, so…"

"That's another thing." Danny replied with a sigh of reluctance. "I know that you trust him, Ed, but I'm getting a bad vibe about Jack." He shook his head vehemently. "He's coming along with us, even though there's nothing personally in it for him? That's not his style."

"He's the only thing we have right now that could even remotely lead us to my wife and daughter." a firm Ed replied, getting to his feet and heading back to the cockpit. "Trusting him is a chance that I'm willing to take." "You really think that Jack's planning on selling us out, man?" a curious Mike asked, walking up behind Danny just as Ed shut the door to the cockpit once more.

"Keller never does anything for free." Danny replied, not taking his eyes off of the cockpit door. "If we're not paying him to do this, then the Professor probably is."

* * *

"Get the kid caught up to date?" a curious Keller inquired as Ed sat back down in the co-pilot's seat. The dark-haired, blue-eyed man glanced at his former partner.

"Yeah." Ed nodded, putting his headset back on. "Everything good to go once we reach Cuenca?"

"Yep." Keller replied, looking slightly unsure. "You sure you really want do this to them though?" A chuckle escaped him. "Loyal as they all are, they're going to be pretty pissed off at you, man."

"It's the only way." an unrelenting Ed replied with a single nod.

* * *

Slightly wincing as her back collided with the back of the seat as well as her hands bound behind her, Delinda Deline wished more than anything to have the blindfold that had been placed around her eyes removed. As far as the blonde-haired, green-eyed daughter of Ed Deline could tell, the jeep she had been placed in had been traveling for quite a while through a mountainous region before reaching what seemed to be a jungle of some sort, based on the heat and the few branches that had hit her while riding.

Her thoughts, however, were elsewhere. They were with her father, whom Delinda assumed was coming to rescue them, and the reason she believed to be behind her mother and her being moved to a new location. Jillian was also in her thoughts as the older woman had been placed in a different vehicle, and Delinda had no way of currently knowing whether that vehicle had ended up in the same place as she had. She had also been thinking about her friends back in Vegas, especially Danny (whom the Professor had mentioned harming in some fashion). Delinda knew for a fact that if her father was coming on a rescue mission, then there was a good chance that some of them were coming with him. This was the sole reason she had probably kept up her strength, knowing that help was on the way.

Suddenly, a pair of rough hands yanked the blindfold off of her eyes, finally letting the Delines' only child see where she was. Her guess that she was in now in some sort of jungle had been accurate as lush vegetation now surrounded her, except for where the three jeeps had just come from. Delinda could also see her mother standing nearby, and felt a red-hot anger arise in her. Much like herself, the older woman's hands had been tied behind her back and a group of the Professor's men surrounded her. The older, curly-haired man himself stood in front of the group, staring at something just through the trees and bushes in front of them.

A gasp escaped Delinda as she realized what he was staring at. The façade and stairway of some sort of ancient temple greeted her green eyes. Although a layer of moss pretty much covered the exterior, one could still see the brown stone and gold used to construct the building. Deline was still too stunned to resist when two of the men behind her grabbed her arms and began to lead her forward. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her mother getting the same treatment.

"Well, it appears that our host hasn't arrived yet." the Professor remarked, turning to look at the men he had brought with them. "No matter. You know where to put them."

"You're really going to take us in there?" a curious Jillian inquired, looking up at the ancient building.

"I'm afraid so." the Professor nodded in response. "You see, one of the uses that the ancient Incans had for this temple involved their rituals concerning death." A chuckle escaped them. "Which makes it a highly appropriate setting, considering what we have planned for your husband once he gets here."

"You bastard!" an enraged Delinda exclaimed, trying her hardest to get out of the restraints on her wrists. "You'll never get away with this! My father will murder you with his bare hands!"

Saying nothing in response, the Professor simply walked over and hit Delinda hard across the face. The dazed, blonde-haired, beautiful woman probably would have fallen to the ground, if not for the men behind her holding her up.

"Delinda!" a horrified Jillian screamed, trying to run over to her daughter. However, the men behind her only tightened their grip, not letting the older, blonde-haired woman go anywhere. "You monster!"

"You'll keep quiet unless you want me to hit her again!" a stern Professor said, looking at Jillian, who immediately relaxed. "Take them inside, and lock them up." As the men carrying Delinda passed by him, the Professor stopped them momentarily. "Make sure that she's all right before leaving them. Brat's more trouble than she's worth."

"Got it." one of the men nodded before they continued on their way.

"What do you want me to do, boss?" the man who had harassed Jillian earlier said curiously.

"You, Raul, have a very important job to do." the Professor replied, "Ed Deline will coming running to us like a fool if he knows that his precious daughter's been hurt." An evil smile appeared on his face. "You know who to contact to make sure that that information gets to him."

"Yes, sir." Raul nodded, pulling out his satellite phone.

To be continued...


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

* * *

"Here we are." a smiling Mike exclaimed, the first one to climb out of the jet once it had landed. "Beautiful Cuenca, Ecuador!" As the bald, African American descended the steps, Nessa and Sam followed him. "You know, I was doing some research about this place on the flight over, and it's pretty well known as a retirement town now. People mainly come here because of the low taxation, rarely enforced traffic laws…"

"Hey, walking travelogue" a gruff-as-ever Ed said as he opened the plane's cargo-hold. "Save your energy for unloading this bad boy!"

"Yes, sir." Mike replied, immediately rushing over to help.

"And what in the hell are you doing?" a curious Ed inquired, spotting Danny putting a hand on a duffel bag that had been loaded full of weaponry.

"Unloading the plane." Danny replied, stating the obvious.

"No, you're not." Ed shook his head, putting a hand on Danny's shoulder to restrain him. "You're supposed to be taking it easy, man. Save your strength and energy for later." A smile appeared on Ed's face. "Jack, Mikey and I can handle this."

"Actually, you might want to let him help, so we can get it done quicker." Keller disagreed, running over. The dark-haired man held his cell-phone in one hand. "I just heard from my contact. There's been another Professor sighting."

"Where?" Ed demanded as everyone paused what he or she was doing.

"In the jungle just over that mountain." Keller replied, pointing to a nearby peak. He looked reluctant to continue. "Apparently, something happened." Closing his eyes, Ed felt his heart sink, but prayed for the best. Reassurance and anger both found their way to Keller's voice. "They're still alive, Ed, but my contact did see the Professor hit Delinda across the face pretty hard."

"That bastard." Ed whispered, his quiet, yet livid voice and fierce blue eyes sending chills down the spines of everyone gathered around. "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to murder him!"

"Come on." Mary quietly suggested, looking at Sam and Nessa. "Let's help them unload the plane, so we can go after this creep!"

The unloading of the plane's cargo onto two separate jeeps did go much faster with six pairs of hands, instead of only three. The only one who didn't help unload was Ed, who was too angry to really be of any help at that moment. The gray-haired, ex-CIA agent sat on a nearby log, thinking of all of the ways he would make the Professor pay for even thinking about laying a hand on his daughter.

"Uh, Ed?" a timid Danny said as he walked over. He motioned to the two jeeps behind him. "We've got everything ready to go."

"Good." Ed nodded as his anger immediately dropped from sight. He got to his feet and clapped a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Well, let's get going into Cuenca proper then."

"Huh?" a puzzled Danny inquired, wondering what the hell Ed was talking about and also about where exactly the older man's intense anger had mysteriously vanished to. "But the Professor was spotted in the other direction."

"We know that, idiot." Keller chuckled, clapping Danny on the back. "But we're going to set up a base of operations." He shrugged his shoulders. "Buddy of mine's got a hotel that we can use."

"All right." Danny said, pretending to understand as everyone climbed into the two jeeps. However, the brown-haired man was still baffled. Why in the hell did they need a base of operations when they weren't planning on staying that long? After all, they were just supposed to get in, get Jillian and Delinda and get out, weren't they? Realizing that something was not right, McCoy decided to keep his eyes on both Keller and Ed himself for the time being.

* * *

"Cuenca, Ecuador?" a puzzled Luis Perez repeated as he looked at a flight plan he had retrieved from the Montecito for one of the smaller, private jets. "Why in the hell would someone want to go to Ecuador? All of their in-town whales are accounted for, and none have recently come from there." Thinking for a few minutes, the realization came to the brown-haired detective as to the cause for the trip, and a hand came to his forehead. "That's got to be where Ed and Danny have gone."

"And Mary." Larry McCoy said, suddenly appearing in the doorway. Luis looked up at the sound of the older man's voice. "Mary's gone with them."

"Please tell me that you're joking." a stunned Luis replied, dropping his hand.

"I wish I was." Larry replied, handing Luis a note. "I went to check on her today because I know how she gets when Danny goes out on these kind of things, but all I found was this note."

"How in the hell did she…" Luis wondered, reading the note that was definitely in Mary's handwriting, which told Larry not to worry and that she had gone with Danny. "Why in the hell did he…"

"I don't know." Larry shook his head, not having any answers to give. He noticed that Luis had picked up the telephone. "What are you doing?"

"Calling Interpol and telling them to check things out in Cuenca, Ecuador." Luis replied, beginning to dial a number. "A Montecito jet left for that destination late last night." He sighed and looked at the older man. "I just hope that Danny and Ed can forgive me, but I'm not going to let them put innocent lives in danger."

* * *

"Why am I not surprised that a friend of yours owns a place like this?" Danny remarked as the group entered a dirty hotel room that appear to have seen better days. The one, queen-sized bed appeared as if it would fall apart if someone dared to even sit on it, the brown, shag carpet was sticky and stained, and the air conditioner made a rumbling sound as it blew cold air into the room.

"Hey, it's not the Montecito." Keller remarked with a smile, "But it's kind of cozy in its own little way." He laughed at Danny. "You really need to lighten up, you know that?"

"It pains me to say this," a disgusted Sam sighed, looking around. "But Danny's actually right." She turned to Ed next to her. "I feel like I'm going to come down with some sort of disease if I stay here any longer!"

"Yeah." Nessa echoed, "I mean, when was the last time anybody cleaned this place?"

"Jack, did you bring the you-know-what?" Ed inquired, changing the subject and ignoring his employees' comments. "You know that me and you can't go out on a mission with the traditional you-know-what."

"Yeah," Jack nodded, opening a small bag he had carried in with him. The dark-haired man produced from within in it a bottle of wine and seven glasses. "Can't go on a mission without the traditional drink first."

"Right." Ed grinned back at his former partner. "You got something to pop the cork with around here?"

"In the kitchen." Jack said, nodding towards a small, separate room off of the side. Winking, he handed the bottle and glasses to Ed. "Why don't you open it anyway? They'd probably suspect that I was poisoning them or something."

Just as he was about to remark about the truth to that comment, a realization flashed across Danny's mind as to what they were doing in that hotel room in the first place. If Jack was allowed to pour and serve the wine, then everyone would be immediately suspicious that he had tampered with it, and most likely wouldn't drink it. However, none of them would suspect that Ed would do something to their drinks. Keller's wink definitely confirmed for McCoy that something fishy was definitely going on, something that only the two older men knew about. But how could the ex-Marine confirm his suspicions?

"You still with us, space cadet?" a curious Ed inquired, breaking McCoy out of his thoughts. The gray-haired, powerfully built man stood in front of his protégé, invitingly holding a full wine glass. "Here you go, kid."

"Ah, no thanks, Ed." Danny declined, putting his hands up. His mind quickly searching for a reason behind the rejection. "Alcohol apparently conflicts with the painkillers I'm on, so the doctors don't want me to drink anything."

"Oh, that's right." a remembering Ed nodded, emptying Danny's glass into a nearby potted plant. "I can't believe that I forgot about that."

"That is some good wine, Mr. D." Mike complimented after downing his entire glass. Setting the glass down on a nearby table, the African American man shook his head. "Your impeccable good taste strikes again."

"Oh, please!" Danny muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes at his friend's obvious brown-nosing.

"I'm going to go talk to my friend, and tell him that we're going to be using this room for a few days." Jack stated, looking at Ed, but motioning to the front door.

"All right." Ed nodded as Keller walked backwards through the front door. "But if you're not back here in five minutes, we're leaving your ass!"

The dark-haired, younger man simply smiled back before closing the front door behind him. Danny's eyes were pulled away from this visual quickly as he noticed an unsteady Sam putting her hand on the table behind her and Mike.

"You okay, Sam?" a concerned Danny asked, looking at her.

The brown-haired woman opened her mouth to respond, but fell lifelessly forward before she could speak. A silent Ed caught her before she could hit the ground, and looked around at the others. Danny wasn't stunned to see that his mentor wasn't surprised by what had happened, confirming his suspicions about Ed tampering with the wine. He realized that Deline was probably looking around to see who would fall next.

"Sam!" a worried Mary exclaimed, looking down at Sam, who Ed had layed upon the ground. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Ed replied, shaking his head. "I don't know what the hell happened to her."

"I think I do." Nessa said, putting a hand to her forehead. It apparently was the black woman's turn to fall into unconsciousness. "The wine…drugged…"

Once again, Ed caught Nessa in his arms as she too fell forward. Danny couldn't help but feel angry with Ed as he watched this play out in front of him. If the older man didn't want them coming along on this mission, then why in the hell did he bring them in the first place?

"Danny." a weak-sounding Mary said, getting the ex-Marine's attention. The red-haired woman appeared to be struggling to keep her eyes open.

"You'll be all right, Mary." a reassuring Danny soothed, gently taking her in his arms and rubbing her arm. "You're just going to go to sleep for a little while."

Suddenly feeling himself supporting the woman's entire weight, Danny sighed in reluctance before picking his best friend since childhood up and gently laying her on the bed behind them. He smiled and gently caressed her face with his injured, right hand.

"Mr. D.?" a woozy, surprised Mike asked, "What…why?"

"You'll understand one day, Mikey." Ed reassured as the bald, African American man sunk to the floor, the last to fall unconscious. Sighing and running a hand through his hair, the gray-haired man turned to face Danny. "I had a feeling that you wouldn't fall for this."

"Why didn't you just leave us back in Vegas, Ed," a curious, angry Danny inquired, motioning around to the unconscious bodies around them. "If you were planning on doing this all along?"

"And risk you all doing this on your own?" Ed countered, suddenly reaching into his pocket. He shook his head. "No, it's better that you were all somewhere where I could keep an eye on you."

"You're not leaving me behind Ed." Danny stated, shaking his own head firmly. "Not after I've come this far! I'm not leaving you alone now!"

Saying nothing in response, Ed simply walked up to his protégé with a sad smile on his face. It was clear that he admired the younger man's loyalty to him, but he clearly also didn't want Danny to accompany him on such a mission, especially in his injured state. McCoy questioned what Deline was going to do to stop him, but suddenly felt a needle prick his arm. Looking down, the ex-Marine could see that Deline's hand had moved out of his pocket and was now holding a full syringe, which he had stuck into Danny's arm.

"You son of a…" Danny started before unconscious claimed him. The prepared Ed caught the younger man in his arms as he fell forward.

"He's going to kick your ass later for that." a smiling Keller remarked, walking back into the room as Ed pulled the syringe out of Danny's arm with one hand.

"Shut up and help me get him on the bed!" Ed instructed, struggling to hold on to Danny's limp form and not willing to take any of his former partner's crap. After Keller walked over and grabbed Danny's feet, the two men managed to lay the brown-haired man down next to Mary, and looked around at the unconscious forms surrounding them. "You sure that they'll be okay?"

"They'll be fine." Keller nodded. "Miguel's got a crew on standby if the Professor even gets within 10 miles of here."

"Good." Ed replied, pulling an envelope out of his pocket, and placing it on the nearby table. Inside was a letter from Deline, apologizing for what he had done and explaining where he had gone. After taking one last look at his unconscious employees, the gray-haired man nodded at Keller. "Let's roll!"

To be continued...


	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

* * *

"Ugh." Sam groaned a half an hour later, putting a hand to her throbbing forehead as she slowly picked herself up off of the floor. In her mind, the brown-haired, fiesty-demeanored was trying to remember what exactly had happened before she had blacked out. She remembered drinking the wine that Ed Deline had offered her, but that was it. A rare gasp escaped Sam as she finally opened her eyes and saw the unconscious forms of her friends lying around her. "What in the hell happened here?"

"Mr. D. drugged us." a groaning Mike replied as he also struggled to sit up. The bald, African American man glanced at his watch. "It must have been pretty weak stuff though as we've only been out for about a half an hour."

"Glad he made that decision." Nessa chimed in, not even bothering to get up. "My head already feels like someone's hitting it with a sledgehammer!"

Waking up to her friends' voices, Mary wondered what the mysterious weight that she now felt on her abdomen was. She slowly opened her brown eyes and looked down to see a foreign arm in a white plaster cast draped across her midsection. The red-haired woman traveled the arm with her eyes until she saw the owner's face.

"Danny?" she whispered curiously, looking at her best friend. Her worry rose when the brown-haired, above average looking man didn't stir upon hearing her voice. He obviously wasn't sleeping, yet Mary distinctly remembering that McCoy hadn't drank the wine along with the others, so he hadn't been drugged. Her voice rising in volume, she quickly sat up in the bed and started shaking the man's shoulder. "Danny!"

Suddenly ignoring any pain he himself felt, Mike struggled to his feet and hurried over to Danny's opposite side. After checking a pulse along his neck, Cannon grabbed both of the ex-Marine's shoulders and shook him violently.

"Danny!" the bald, jovial man said, "DANNY! Come on, man!"

"I don't think that he'll be waking up soon." Sam remarked, picking the syringe that Ed had used to drug McCoy up off of the floor. The brown-haired woman held it out to Mike for inspection. "Looks like Ed took care of him too."

"Damn." a frustrated Mike said, gently setting the still unconscious Danny back on the bed. He took the syringe gently in his hand. "This stuff's bound to be a little more powerful than what we got." He looked back at Danny. "He could still be out for awhile yet."

"What should we do in the meantime?" Nessa asked, getting to her own feet while rubbing her forehead vigorously in a futile attempt to clear the pain away. "I mean we obviously know where Ed and presumably Keller went." She sighed in disappointment. "Apparently, they decided that we weren't needed for this mission after all."

"I'll be damned if I'm going to let them go alone." a defiant Mike shook his head, trying to formulate some sort of plan. Suddenly, he headed for the front door. "You girls, keep an eye on Danny until I get back and keep trying to wake him up."

"Where are you going?" a curious Sam inquired.

"I'm going to go see what, if anything, Mr. D. and Jack left us." Mike replied, running out the door and slamming it shut behind him.

* * *

"You're positive that you should have left the second jeep there?" a curious Keller asked, looking at Ed from the passenger seat. The gray-haired, blue-eyed man kept his eyes on the road. "I mean, loaded up and all of that?"

"They'll be a target if they try to go back to the airfield, like I've instructed," Ed explained with a nod. "Or if they're dumb enough to attempt coming after us." Keeping his eyes on the road, he shook his head. "I'm not going to leave them unprotected."

"You really think that they'll come after us?" Keller wondered, turning his gaze back to the dirt road ahead of them.

"I'm almost sure that they will." Ed nodded in response. "That's why I drugged them; to give us time to wrap things up before they can even find us." He quickly glanced at his watch. "They should all be awake by now, except for Danny."

"And they should also all feel like kicking your ass right about now." Keller chuckled, leaning back in his seat and crossing his legs casually. As the jeep descended the mountain road, a lush green area began to envelope them and the road gradually switched from one of asphalt to one of rocky dirt.

* * *

"Well?" a curious Nessa inquired, turning her head as Mike reentered the room. The three women the bald African American man had left behind had surrounded the still unconscious McCoy on the bed.

"The second jeep is still here." Mike reported, putting his hands on his hips. "Completely loaded up." He shook his head. "It seems like Mr. D. knew that we weren't going to stay in this hotel room." "He wants us to go back to the air strip and find someone to fly us back to Vegas." Sam stated, holding up the note that Ed had written. "We found this just after you left."

"Not leaving me behind, Ed." a feverish Danny muttered, starting to wake up again. As he repeated the last words he had said to his mentor, the tall, brown-haired man's eyes twitched and his hands turned into fists. "Not after I've come this far!"

"Danny." a sympathetic Mary said, shaking her friend's shoulders.

"Huh?" a curious Danny inquired, relaxing his body. As he opened his eyes and looked at the people surrounding him, his curiosity intensified. "Guys? Where's Ed?"

"He's gone, man." Mike replied as Danny slowly got to an elbow. "He and Keller left about 45 minutes ago." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Seems like he wants us to go back to the air strip and go back to Vegas."

"Well, that's the last place that I'm going!" a determined Danny exclaimed, struggling to his feet. However, the minute he got to his feet, the world around him spun rapidly and the tall, brown-haired man fell back upon the bed. "Damn it!"

"Danny, you've just woken up from being drugged with God knows what." a gentle Mary pointed out, knowing how much her friend wanted to help Big Ed. "You need a few minutes to get that out of your system."

"No, we need to go now." Danny disagreed, waving off Mary's concern. He looked over at Mike. "Why don't you take these three downstairs and make sure that everything is ready to go? I'll be down in a few minutes."

"All right." Mike nodded back, motioning at the three girls to follow him. Sam and Nessa did so immediately, but Mary remained where she was sitting by Danny, who put his head in his hands.

"How are you feeling?" a curious Connell inquired, putting her hands on her friend's shoulders.

"The room's still spinning a little bit." an honest Danny replied, trying to shake the feeling off. However, he ceased upon realizing that he was only making things worse. "God, we don't have time for this. We have to go after Ed! We have to find him before something happens!"

"What if I helped you walk down to the jeep?" Mary suddenly suggested, "I mean, you'll definitely have enough time on the jeep ride to get your equilibrium back."

"Yeah," a grinning Danny replied, "But if I fall down the stairs, I'll probably take you with me."

"The point is not to let you fall." Mary fired back, slowly getting to her feet and grabbing Danny's hands. A wide smile appeared on her face. "On your feet, Marine."

"Yes, ma'am." Danny smiled back, slowly getting up from the bed himself.

To be continued...


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

After carefully examining in the multiple tire tracks left in front of him, a sighing Ed Deline got off of his knees and stood erect once more. Upon reaching what they had deemed the mouth of the jungle, Jack and Ed had immediately noticed a section that looked like quite a few vehicles had recently plowed through it. Tire tracks were still visible in the dirt, bushes had been decimated, and branches of trees had been broken off. The gray-haired man's blue eyes focused themselves down this makeshift road, but no sign of life was visible at all. 

"I don't like it, Ed." a cautious Keller remarked, walking over to his former CIA partner. The younger, dark-haired man shook his head. "These tracks are way too obvious to be the Professor's doing!" His hand gestured to the tire tracks. "I mean whoever made them didn't even bother to cover them up."

"Well, you see, I'm beginning to suspect that our friend has some sort of masochistic side to his personality." Deline smiled, looking at Jack. "That's the only reason that I can think of that he would own up to this in the first place." He looked back down the road. "In all honesty, I think that the bastard wants us to find him."

"I still don't think that we should go down this road." Keller maintained, crossing his arms across his chest. "Looks like he's definitely trying to lead us into some sort of trap." He paused momentarily. "But even if it isn't, I don't think that we want to give up the element of surprise, do we?"

"What are you thinking, Jack?" a curious Ed asked, looking again at the other man.

"That we should drive a little bit farther south." Keller replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "We go in through the jungle."

"Sounds reasonable." Ed nodded in agreement, although part of him still thought that taking the obvious road wasn't really that much of a bad idea. "Let's go."

Keller nodded in agreement as Ed headed for the driver's side of the jeep. However, the minute that the gray-haired man's back was turned, the younger man laughed to himself.

"You're taking the bait way too easily, old friend."

* * *

"Delinda honey," a gentle-sounding Jillian said, walking over to her daughter, who was trying desperately to kick down the solid, wooden door that kept them inside a rather small chamber. Both women's hands had been untied since being brought inside the temple, and the older, blonde-haired woman placed hers on her daughter's shoulders. "That door is not going anywhere! Quit wasting your energy." 

"I'm only doing what Daddy would do." Delinda shook her head, still kicking at the door. The section of her face were the Professor had struck her was still slightly red. "Besides, if Daddy and Danny are coming to rescue us, then they'll need to know where we are." She halted her actions, rubbing a sore foot. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"I knew that that was going to happen." Jillian sighed, wearily rubbing her forehead with her hand. Still, she had to admire her daughter's determination to help out in whatever way that she could. Looking between the younger blonde-haired woman and the door again, a look of resolve suddenly flashed across the older woman's features before she herself started pounding on the door with her fists.

"All right, Mom." Delinda smiled as she started kicking the door again.

* * *

"Damn jungle." Ed muttered to himself, pausing to take a break after hacking a bush to pieces with the machete in his hand. Wiping the sweat that was beginning to form on his brow, the gray-haired man turned to Keller, who was walking a few feet behind him. "Are you sure that we're going to the right way, Jack? I'm not seeing any sign of life!"

"That's not true, Ed." Keller chuckled in response, "I mean, you did step in that pile of monkey crap a few minutes ago." His laughter grew in intensity. "Why the hell do you think I'm walking so far back?"

"I should have pushed you in it." Ed grumbled to himself, shaking his head in frustration. Suddenly realizing that the pair wasn't even headed the right direction, the gray-haired man looked skeptically at Keller. Could Danny's suspicions about him be true? Was he really working for the other side? "I think we should go back to the entrance, Jack. I doubt that whatever the Professor has in store for us is worse than this. We're not even sure if we're going the right way!"

"I really don't think that that's a good idea, Ed." Keller disagreed, shaking his head. "I think that we need to keep on going. We're bound to run into something."

"Not if we keep heading south when our destination is supposedly north." Ed fired back, crossing his arms across his chest. His blue eyes suddenly narrowed in anger as a guilty look appeared on Keller's face. "Care to tell me why you're leading me away from my wife and daughter, Jack?"

* * *

"It's clear that somebody's been here," Mike remarked as he and Danny surveyed the same tire tracks that Ed had. Both the bald, African American man and the ex-Marine looked into the jungle. "And they definitely went that way." 

"How much do you want to bet that at least some of these belong to the Professor and his men?" Danny asked, getting back to his feet. Just like Ed, his eyes focused themselves down the makeshift path, but they quickly directed themselves southward upon noticing something out of the ordinary. Turning, McCoy squinted, trying to see what the distant red object was that stood out among the lush greens and browns that surrounded them. "What in the hell…"

"What is it, man?" a curious Mike asked, getting to his own feet and looking the same direction as Danny. "Is that what I think it is?"

"It could be the other jeep." Danny nodded in confirmation, "I'm going to go down there and check it out."

"Whoa!" Mike said, putting a hand on Danny's shoulder to stop McCoy as he took a step further. "You're not going down there alone, man! It could be a trap."

"Don't say that, Mikey." a worried Danny said, "Because that would mean that the Professor's got Ed now too." He shook his brown-haired head. "I should have never let him go alone with Keller!"

"You didn't have a choice in the matter, man." Mike replied with a sympathetic smile. "Remember the syringe to your arm?"

"I remember." Danny nodded, rubbing the area of his arm that Ed had plunged the syringe into. "Okay, you're going to need to unload the jeep while I'm gone."

"So, you're going to take one of the girls?" Mike assumed, putting his hands on his hips.

"Yeah." Danny replied, looking at the women who were still gathered around the jeep, trying to decide which one to take. Mary was definitely out as the situation could potentially be dangerous, and Nessa would be a bigger help to Mike if the Professor decided to pull something while Danny was away. He addressed his answer to both Mike and the girls. "Sam."

"Yeah?" the casino hostess with long, brown hair said, looking quizzically over.

"Come on." an inviting Danny waved over, "Got a little secret mission that we need to go on."

"Secret mission?" Sam repeated before smiling widely. Her dark eyes narrowed seductively. "So that's what they're calling it these days."

"What?" a puzzled Danny asked, exchanging curious glances with Mike.

"Oh, come on, Danny." Sam purred, walking over to him and caressing his chest. "You and me alone in the jungle? I know what you're planning."

"You wish." Danny shook his head, not wanting to waste any more time. "Come on! Ed could be in trouble!"

To be continued...


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

"You going to answer my question, Keller?" Ed demanded, his blue eyes narrowing angrily as he stared at his former CIA partner. "Or are you just going to stand there with that dumb look on your face?" A growl escaped him as he pulled a pistol out from his belt and aimed it at Keller. "Why in the hell are you leading me away from Jillian and Delinda?"

"It's not what you think, Ed.," an obviously nervous Keller stammered, putting his hands up innocently and shaking his head. "I swear to God that I tried to stop him from kidnapping them."

"So, Danny was right?" an irate Ed demanding, gripping the handle of the pistol tighter than ever. "You are working with the Professor?"

"Not because I want to." Keller replied, looking straight into Ed's eyes. "I hate to use an old cliché, but he made me an offer that I couldn't refuse at the time." The anger on Ed's face seemed to intensify. "But I've been wanting to break from him ever since he took your wife and kid. I swear!"

"You son of a bitch." Ed said quietly, maintaining his aim.

"I was supposed to make sure that you got lost in the jungle." Keller continued with the logic that if Ed was going to kill him, he wanted to have a clear conscience. "His men were supposed to find a near-death you a few days later and bring you back to him." He shook his head. "I don't know anything else beyond that, or what he has planned for the rest of them." He looked back up at Ed. "But, like I said, I've been trying to break from him ever since he took Jillian and Delinda. Your family should have nothing to do with this!"

"I ought to kill you where you stand." a more-than-pissed-off Ed growled, keeping his aim on Keller as he walked forward. "Tell me where I can find my wife and daughter, Jack!"

"Go north." Keller replied, finally dropping his hands to his side. "The Professor's set up base inside an old, deserted Incan temple." He paused and swallowed a lump in his throat. "You going to kill me now?"

"Meet me at the air strip." Deline shook his head before striking Keller in the forehead with the butt of the pistol. The dark-haired man sank unconsciously to the jungle floor.

* * *

"Oh, my God." a stunned Sam gasped, putting a hand over her mouth as her and Danny came across the jeep that they had seen from a distance. Sure enough, it was the same red one that Ed and Keller had presumably departed in.

"Damn it!" Danny swore, pounding his fist against the hood of the car. The brown-eyed, ex-Marine had been clinging to the impossible hope that it wouldn't be the right jeep. He shook his brown-haired head. "What in the hell possessed them to travel down here?"

"Are you seriously asking for explanation as to how Ed Deline's mind works?" Sam asked with a scoff as Danny suddenly walked into the jungle that layed beside the pair. "Where exactly are you going?"

Ignoring Sam's question for the moment, Danny walked a few feet into the jungle and wasn't at all surprised to see another makeshift path carved into the lush vegetation. However, this one was only wide enough for a single person and not a whole jeep like the other one had been.

"Definitely the work of a machete." Danny remarked to himself, examining what remained of a bush branch. He found himself stupefied as he looked down the path. "They're heading south?"

"Why?" a quizzical Sam said as she suddenly appeared behind Danny. "It looked to me like the Professor was heading north. Why would they go south?"

"Good question." Danny remarked, not taking his eyes off of the path.

"What if Keller's leading Ed into a trap?" a worried Sam suddenly asked.

"I don't think that that's even a question." Danny replied, sighing heavily. More than anything, he wanted to sprint through the jungle on a desperate quest to find his mentor before something happened to him. However, McCoy knew what Ed would probably want him to do instead right now. "Come on, we should get back to the others. We need to rescue Jillian and Delinda."

"What about Ed?" Sam reminded, nodding down the path.

"He can take care of himself." Danny said, reminding himself as well as Sam of that fact.

"Okay." Sam agreed with a reluctant sigh, not exactly wanting to leave Ed out in the jungle by himself either. As she turned around to leave, the brown-haired woman jumped and shrieked. "OH MY GOD!"

"What?" a ready-to-fight Danny inquired, turning around himself as a petrified Sam pointed at the object, which had brought on her fear. A huge python that looked like it could crush both Marquez and McCoy at the same time had slithered onto the path, blocking the pair's exit. The ex-Marine's willingness to fight decreased, but only slightly. He wanted to be prepared in case the snake did try to attack them. Still, he couldn't help but chuckle at the seemingly fearless Sam's reaction. "You're afraid of that? It's not even poisonous, Sam!"

"I know that, idiot!" Sam pointed out, glaring up at McCoy. "But it can still strangle us to death!" Wincing, she slowly moved herself behind Danny. "God! Why did it have to be a snake? I HATE SNAKES!"

"Well, I don't think that it's too fond of you either." Danny remarked, glancing back at Sam as the snake appeared to be looking at the pair.

"Shut up, Mr. I'm-Afraid-of-Waterfalls!" Sam snapped.

"I'm not afraid of them." Danny shook his head, "I just think that I must have had a bad experience in a previous life with them." He paused for a moment. "You know, like how Ed feels about toll booths."

"Whatever." it was Sam's turn to roll her eyes at her friend's words. Her dark eyes turned back to the snake, which was still watching them. "So, what are you going to do about this?"

"Well, it doesn't look very aggressive." Danny reasoned, scratching the back of his neck with his casted right arm. His eyes were focused on the snake, which appeared to be bathing in a sunbeam. "So, I don't think that we should attack it."

"What?" Sam exclaimed in disbelief. She sighed heavily and leaned up against a tree. "Why can't you just be a man and kill the damn thing with no questions asked?" She paused and looked at Danny. "I suppose you just want to go up there and ask it politely to move its scaly ass out of our way?"

"No, I've got a better idea." Danny grinned before kneeling down with his back facing Sam. "I think that I can probably maneuver around it without disturbing it too much." He glanced back at Sam. "And since you're probably unwilling to even get near Mr. Python, I guess that I'm just going to have to carry you on my back."

"But, Danny…" a skeptical Sam pointed out, "What about your injuries?" She stopped leaning up against the tree. "Your broken ribs most likely aren't going to like you carrying another person around."

"If it's all the same to you, Sam," Danny replied, waving her concern off. "I don't think that all five pounds of you is going to do any damage."

"You're lucky that my fear of snakes is winning over my desire to smack you in the back of the head." Sam fired back with narrow eyes as she climbed onto Danny, piggyback-style. "Okay."

"Hold on tight." Danny cautioned as he slowly got to his feet. Much like Sam had predicted, his ribs cried out in agony upon feeling the weight of another person on his back. Another ache seemed to radiate from inside the cast on his right wrist. Wincing, the tall, brown-haired man tried to ignore the pain. "I'm not sure of how good a grip I have with my busted right arm."

"Mary would go ballistic if she saw you doing this." Sam remarked as Danny headed for the exit, keeping what he determined a safe distance between himself and the python. The large, coiled-up creature hadn't attacked them so far, and McCoy wasn't about to give it reason to by coming too close. He could feel Sam's arms tighten around his neck as they approached the creature. "AGH! Please don't drop me!"

"I wasn't planning on it." McCoy reassured through gritted teeth. The pain from his ribs and arm was throbbing now, and it was getting harder and harder to simply ignore it. One of his eyes shut itself tightly as a particular bad wave cycled through him. "God…"

"What was that?" a curious Sam inquired, trying to look at Danny's face.

"N…Nothing." Danny replied, feeling a wave of relief wash over him as they reached the jeep without riling the python in the process. "We're here."

"Thank God." a quiet Sam said, breathing a sigh of relief as she slid off of Danny's back. "If I never see another snake for the rest of my life…" The brown-haired woman paused and watched a clearly pained Danny closely as he tried to hide the fact that he was hugging his abdomen with both of his arms. "Oh, my God. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Danny replied, waving off her concern. "I just irritated my injuries when I carried you." A smile appeared on his face. "We both knew that that was going to happen."

"Why don't we take this thing back to the others?" Sam suggested, nodding her head at the jeep. She looked up and down at the tall ex-Marine. "In all honesty, Danny, I don't think that you'd break any speed records if you tried to walk."

"Probably not." Danny agreed as he climbed into the passenger seat.

"By the way," a grinning Sam warned as she herself got into the driver's seat. "Tell anyone about my little phobia, and I swear that I'll make what the Professor did to you look like a walk in the park!"

"Sam Marquez, warrior woman." Danny chuckled as they sped off.

To be continued...


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

* * *

"Sir, why don't we just ambush Deline's little army?" Raul suggested as he and the Professor watched what was happening in the jungle around them on two screens: Nessa, Mary and Mike remaining by the jeep were on one while Sam and Danny driving the other jeep back was on another. "We outnumber them, so it would be easy to capture them and hold them hostage like the Deline women." He paused and watched his employer carefully. "Or we could just kill them." 

"Come now, Raul." the Professor laughed, not tearing his eyes away from the screens in front of him. "Where would the fun be in that?" A chuckle escaped the older man. "Watching these fools toil under the false impression that they'll actually be able to do something is the best entertainment that I've had in a long while!" He waved off his henchman. "Besides, they'll find their way here eventually, and our host doesn't want to waste any unnecessary energy or manpower."

"I guess that that makes sense." Raul nodded, switching the assault rifle in his right hand to his left. "So, what's the plan when they actually get here? I mean, I know what the boss has planned for Ed Deline, but what about them?"

"For most of them, their fates have been left up to him." the Professor replied, referring to the man who had summoned him and Raul there in the first place. Suddenly, the black and gray haired man's eyes locked themselves on Danny. "However, Danny Boy will only wish that he had been that lucky! His future is in my very capable hands."

* * *

"I can't believe it." a stunned Mike commented, rubbing the back of his head as he stared at the two red jeeps parked in front of him. "I just can't believe it! Why the hell would they…" 

"I'm not sure." Danny replied, leaning up against the jeep him and Sam had just gotten out of. The brown-haired, ex-Marine shook his head. "But there's even more bad news. Even though the Professor appears to be heading north, Ed and Keller's tracks led south."

"What?" Mary said as both her and Mike looked back at Danny in disbelief. "Why?"

"Keller's leading Ed into a trap." a worried Nessa whispered, her dark eyes widening. Her voice grew in volume as she raced towards one of the jeeps. "I've got to go help him!"

"Nessa, no!" a firm Danny said, stepping in between the black, British woman and the red jeep. "Ed can fight his own battle! We need to get Jillian and Delinda back!"

"A lot of bloody good that will do us if there's no Ed to get them back for!" an irate Nessa protested, trying to shove the ex-Marine out of the way. Her efforts were blocked by Mike grabbing the back of her shirt. "Let me go!"

"No, it's too dangerous for you to be going off into the jungle alone." Mike replied, shaking his head and maintaining his grip. "Don't you think that if Danny had thought that Ed was in any kind of trouble, he would have gone after him?" Walking in front of the woman, he put his hands on her shoulders. "Come on! We've got a job to do! Ed's counting on us to get Dee and Mrs. D. back."

"Come on, Nessa." Mary encouraged as she and Sam silently watched on.

"Are you sure that he's going to be okay?" Nessa asked, looking over Mike's shoulder at Danny.

"Ed can handle Keller." Danny nodded, crossing his arms across his chest.

"All right then." Nessa sighed, still reluctant to leave the man who had been like a father to her alone, but knowing that it was what the gray-haired man with fierce blue eyes would want. "Let's go get Delinda and Jillian, and go home."

"That's more like it." Mike smiled, rubbing Nessa's shoulder. The bald, African American man suddenly looked at Danny. "What are you thinking, Danny Boy?"

"We've got a perfectly good road right in front of us." Danny replied, looking down the makeshift path the Professor's jeeps had carved into the thick forest. The ex-Marine's brown eyes narrowed in determination. "Let's use it." Although he had doubts about being leader, due to what had happened to his entire unit overseas, McCoy knew that the team needed his military experience to help them through this. "Mikey, you take the lead and I'll cover the rear. Ladies, I need you to walk in between us, and keep your eyes open for anything suspicious. All right?" The group around him nodded at him. "Okay, let's go."

"Danny." Mary said quietly, standing in the ex-Marine's way as the group started into the jungle.

"Hmm?" an interested Danny inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"You're due for your medication." Mary replied as McCoy suddenly noticed that she was holding a canteen in one hand and a few of his pain pills in the other.

"Leave it to you to remember about that." Danny smiled before popping the pills in his mouth and chugging them down with a big mouthful of water.

"Hmm." Mary chuckled, leaning towards him. "I also remember that you're due for this." She kissed him quickly on the lips, and smiled at the confusion present in his eyes when she pulled away. "A good luck kiss."

"Thanks, Mary." an appreciative Danny said, caressing her cheek. "I think that we're going to need all of the good luck we can get."

* * *

Pushing away one last vine that blocked his view, Ed growled as his blue eyes were finally able to take in the brown and gold temple in front of him. The anger rose in the gray-haired man's chest as he realized that his wife and daughter were inside the massive building as well as the man who was keeping them from him. Deline wanted to tear the structure down brick by brick until he found all of them. Vengeance would be his!

Catching sight of movement in the corner of his eye, Ed turned to look down the makeshift road that he was now standing on. He could see a small group of people heading his way from not too far off, and the former CIA operative suspected that it had to be his employees that he had left drugged and unconscious in the hotel room. Keller's bullshit about leading him the wrong way would have given the group plenty of time to catch up to him.

"Mr. D.!" the voice of Mike Cannon was faintly heard shouting as the group broke into a run. Ed was beginning to be able to see distinct facial features on all of them, but it would be a few minutes before they would be able to catch up to him. A few minutes that he couldn't afford if the lives of his wife and daughter were on the line!

"What's he doing?" Sam inquired, pausing in her tracks as she noticed Ed running up the massive staircase to the temple's main entrance.

"He's not wasting any time!" Danny replied, trying to ignore both the massive weariness that he felt and the agony his broken ribs had decided to cause him. Gritting his teeth, the tall man broke into an even faster pace than what he had been doing. "Come on!"

* * *

"And now, the game begins." a mysterious figure chuckled to himself as he watched Ed Deline enter the temple via a monitor in front of him. He raised a glass of red wine to his lips. "Please take your time in searching for your beautiful wife and daughter, Ed. After all, you'll only be prolonging your own execution." 

To be continued...


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

* * *

After struggling to push open the massive stone doors, Ed's blue eyes darted around the semi-darkened interior in front of him. Lit torches that hung on the stone walls provided the only light in the temple, and made the building somewhat smoky. The gray-haired man stepped cautiously inside; his blue eyes constantly watching out for any sign of movement besides his own. He wanted to call out to his wife and daughter to find out where they were and if they were safe (and he hoped to God that they were, or someone's head would be his!) but knew that giving away his location would be a fatal mistake. 

Deline removed one of the torches from its mount before pulling the machete out from his belt and holding it in his opposite hand. He had light and a weapon; all he knew that he would need to proceed in his quest to find the Professor and make him pay for what he had done. He reached a fork in the road, where the giant entrance became two smaller, long hallways. So long that Ed couldn't even see down them, so he would have to go into one of them blind and leave the other one for his employees to search.

"Eeenie, meenie, minie, mo." Ed muttered to himself, moving his machete back and forth as he said each word. The knife pointed down the hallway to Ed's right, so that was the direction he decided to take. However, before he walked down the hall, he approached the section of wall that divided the pair of corridors. The gray-haired man carved an arrow indicating his chosen direction and "ED" into the stone with his machete, a symbol to his employees to take the other way.

* * *

"This thing is incredible." Mike commented as the Montecito gang stared up at the brown and gold temple in front of them. "I mean the ancient Incans must have built it!" The bald, African-American man glanced around at the group of people surrounding him. "You really think that the Professor is in there?" 

"He's got to be." Sam replied, her dark eyes still surveying the building. "Why else would Ed run in there?" Dismay filled her features upon noticing the sheer amount of steps that led to the doorway, and a whining tone suddenly appeared in her voice. "Why in the hell couldn't the ancient Incans have invented the elevator?"

"We're wasting time." Danny replied, shaking his head at the woman's comments. "We've got to get to Jillian and Delinda before it's too late!"

"What makes you think that it isn't already too late, Danny?" the Professor's voice seemed to ask out of nowhere. Gasping in surprise and terror, the group began to look around them, but the older, black and gray-haired man was nowhere to be seen. His eerie laughter seemed to echo from all around them. Danny could feel a slightly worried Mary lean in against him, and he wrapped his arms around her. "Look at you all! You're like a herd of gazelle, able to hear the lion but not see him."

"Where are you, you spineless coward?" an enraged Nessa asked, looking up at the temple. "Come out here and face us like a man!"

"Tell me, dear Nessa. Am I not supposed to remember what happened the last time you told me to show my face?" a curious Professor wondered, "Am I not supposed to remember you sweet-talking me into showing up at the Montecito, only to be arrested?" He continued to laugh. "Unfortunately for you, neither Ed Deline nor the Las Vegas Police Department are around to help you this time."

"It's because Mr. D. is too busy hunting down your ass!" a firm Mike replied, positioning himself in between the temple and Nessa. A rarely seen look on anger was on the African American man's usually jovial face. "If I were you, I'd be more worried about where Ed is than about us!"

"He's right." Danny added, his brown eyes narrow. "You're a dead man walking, Professor!"

"More yapping from the little lap dog?" the Professor remarked obviously amused, "Does Ed know that you're walking around without a collar and leash on, Danny?"

"You arrogant son of a bitch!" an angered Danny growled as he started running up the stairs towards the temple's entrance. He hoped that Ed would leave at least a piece of the Professor for him to kick the crap out of.

"Danny!" Mary called as the others followed McCoy's lead. "Wait up!"

* * *

"Hmm, that's it, Danny." the Professor encouraged after shutting off a nearby microphone so that the Montecito group wouldn't be able to hear him. He twirled a small handgun around in one hand as he watched the quintet enter the temple via a monitor. However, his eyes were mainly focused on McCoy. "Run, like a fool, towards your destiny!"

* * *

"Whoa!" Mike gasped as he looked around the smoky, semi-darkened interior of the temple. The same one Ed had observed a few moments prior. "Man, this place looks like it's straight out of an Indiana Jones movie or something!"

"Didn't know much about interior decorating, did they?" Sam remarked as she looked around the bare space.

Suddenly, something fell from the ceiling on top of Nessa, causing the black British woman to shriek in terror as it made her fall to the floor.

"Nessa!" a worried Mary exclaimed as Danny and Mike rushed over.

"Are you okay?" Danny wondered, kneeling down to help her.

"What the bloody hell is that?" a wide-eyed Nessa asked, gesturing to the bones that now lay on top of and around her.

"Uh, don't freak out, Ness," Danny gulped; now holding some sort of decaying bone in his hand. "But I think that it was an Incan warrior at one time."

"Oh, my God!" Nessa shrieked, covering her mouth in shock as she realized that it was indeed a skeleton now laying around and on her. From nearby she could hear Sam laughing hysterically.

"It's never when you have your camera!" Marquez chuckled, holding her abdomen with both hands.

"Shut the hell up, Sam." Nessa muttered as Danny helped her get back to her feet.

"Sorry." Sam apologized, still laughing and not sounding too apologetic at all.

"I wonder what he died of." Mary commented as both her and Danny looked down at the various bones.

"Oh, I think that I've got a pretty good idea, Mare." Mike replied, holding the skull in his hands. As he showed it to the group, they could see the edge of a stone spear still embedded within the cranium.

"What the hell kind of place is this?" Danny asked, his wide, brown eyes looking at the skull and at the group around him.

To be continued...


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Author's Notes: Thanks for all of the reviews, everyone. Those of you who have read this fic at the Las Vegas: the Series forums may have noticed that I did not post this chapter there and I don't intend to, seeing as how I've pretty much left that board for my own personal reasons.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

* * *

"Damn it!" Ed muttered in frustration as he kicked open yet another stone door to find nothing awaiting him on the other side. The gray-haired, former CIA agent had opened about 10 or more such doors so far to find the same thing waiting for him every time. He leaned against the doorframe and sighed heavily, wanting nothing more right now than to magically make his wife and daughter appear. He eventually turned and stalked back down the hallway, machete and torch still in his hands. "I'm going to kill this bastard when I find him! Then, I'm going to bring him back to life, so that I can kill him again!"

As he pushed open another wooden door on the opposite wall, a strange sight greeted Ed. The darkened room was no bigger than some of the storage closets at the Montecito, but there were no brooms or mops in here. Instead, there was a table with four black and white monitors resting on it. One was turned off, but the other three showed various scenes: the hallway he had just come from, his employees walking down the opposite hallway, and Jillian and Delinda trying to bust down a door. Seeing his wife and daughter, Ed's heart moved into his throat and gently rested his tough hands on the device, pulling it closer to him.

"That's my girls!" the proud man whispered to himself. As a new wave of determination came over him, Deline set down the monitor and sprinted farther down the hallway.

* * *

An eerie silence descended upon the group of Montecito employees as they walked down the opposite hallway from Ed. A torch-carrying Mike led the single file line and was followed by Nessa, Sam and Mary. Danny, who also carried a torch and a pistol in his other hand, followed a few paces behind the group.

"Let's see what's behind door number one, shall we?" a grinning Mike commented as the quintet came to a stop outside a wooden door. The African American man wasted no time in kicking the object down, revealing nothing but an empty chamber. "Damn!"

"It's both a blessing and a curse." Danny sighed, tucking his pistol under his belt again and running his healthy left hand through his short, brown hair. "I mean, at least the Professor didn't have goons waiting to jump us or something."

"Thank you, Captain Optimism!" Sam replied, rolling her dark eyes. "The fact that an army could appear out of nowhere and jump us makes me feel a whole lot better about this entire situation." She put a hand to her forehead. "Dee owes me big time for this!"

"Well, remind me never to count on you for a rescue." Nessa remarked, rolling her own eyes as the group continued down the hallway. The black, British woman suddenly wiped something off of her arm disgustedly. "EGH! I think that I still have some of that bloody skeleton's guts on me!"

"How are you doing?" Danny asked quietly, tapping Mary on the shoulder.

"Good." Mary replied, smiling back at him. "I'm still trying to prove to you that I am tough enough to make it through something like this, you know."

"I should have never said that you weren't." Danny shook his head.

"Yeah, you shouldn't have." Mary agreed.

A slight rumbling was suddenly heard, forcing the anxious group to stop immediately in their tracks. All five sets of eyes looked around for the source, which was soon revealed as a hidden door suddenly slid open in the rock near Danny.

"Where in the hell did that come from?" Mike questioned, looking back at the door.

"I don't know." a raring to go Danny replied, glancing at the other male in the group. "But I'm going to find out!" He walked over to the doorway and looked inside the chamber, seeing a torch-lit room in the near distance. "Weird."

"Danny, wait!" Mary exclaimed as she watched McCoy carefully step inside the chamber. The red-haired woman was almost positive that it was a trap set by the Professor and wasn't about to let her best friend since childhood go alone.

"Hang on, you guys." Mike cautioned as the last trace of Mary's red hair disappeared. "This could be a trap!"

Suddenly, the rumbling was heard again and the rock door quickly slid shut again, isolating Danny and Mary from the rest of the group. Sam just barely had enough time to see stunned looks appear on the faces of both the male and female before the thick door banished them from sight.

"Danny! Mary!" she exclaimed as Mike rushed over and tried unsuccessfully to force the door open again with his bare hands. "What in the hell are we supposed to do now?"

"Damn thing's shut tight." Mike sighed in defeat before looking at both Nessa and Sam. "Find something to pry the door open with!"

* * *

"Nothing?" the now torch-wielding Mary inquired as an exhausted Danny gave up trying to open the door from their side. Saying nothing, the brown-haired ex-Marine leaned up against the object and shook his head. "Well, now what do we do?"

"This door opened for a reason." Danny replied, looking at the red-haired special events coordinator. "Something more than one of us just accidentally stepped on a tile on the floor or something like that." His brown eyes surveyed their current surroundings; they stood in some sort of hallway that led into the much larger chamber that a statue currently blocked their view of. "Wait here. You'll be safe behind this statue."

"Be careful." Mary pleaded.

Smiling back in agreement, Danny slowly left the hiding spot and walked fully into the room. He knew that someone or something had to be there as the torches hanging on the wall wouldn't be lit if it were empty, nor would the door have slid open for them to enter.

"Jillian! Delinda!" he called hopefully, looking around the empty room.

"Guess again." the Professor's voice replied from behind him.

Just as he was about to turn around and confront the older man, two related sensations aroused Danny's senses. The crackling of electricity reached his ears, followed quickly by his back feeling as if it was literally on fire. The former Marine lieutenant cried out in pain as he slowly sank to his knees. As the burning feeling died down, McCoy fell to the floor, panting for breath.

"Danny!" he heard a worried Mary call from where he had left her, but he was in too much pain to respond and he also didn't want to give her location away.

"A taser's a handy little object, isn't it?" The Professor remarked from somewhere nearby Danny before McCoy felt the man's foot forcibly turn him over, so that he was now lying on his back. With a slight smile, the older man set his foot back down just below Danny's sternum, causing McCoy's broken and bruised ribs to cry out in agony once more. The man himself merely shut his eyes tightly and scowled his face to keep from crying out himself. "What am I going to have to do to get through to you, Danny? I thought that what I did to you in Vegas would have been enough, but you just refuse to let me be."

Still in pain, Danny was about to tell the gray and black haired man where he could go, but suddenly stopped as he noticed that Mary had come out of hiding. The red-haired woman simply stood in the doorway of the room with a horrified expression on her face and wide, brown eyes. McCoy wished that he could move his hand and gesture to her to run away, but it appeared to be too late. The Professor's head was now turned towards the woman, which seemed to amplify her horror as well as elicit a rarely seen terrified expression from Danny.

"No! Mary!" Danny exclaimed, looking up at the older man. "Leave her alone!"

"As if there's anything I can do to her that's worse than making her watch the slow, painful destruction of her knight-in-shining-armor." The Professor chuckled, now resting his full weight on his foot and subsequently on Danny. Groaning loudly, Danny shut his eyes tightly again and balled his left hand into a fist. He was too distracted by his pain to notice the older man reaching down and taking McCoy's pistol out of his belt. "Hmm. This could make things a lot more interesting."

"No!" a worried Mary shouted as tears welled up in her eyes and she outstretched a weak hand. "No! Please! Don't kill him!"

"Aw. Dry your eyes, my dear." the Professor requested with a voice full of mock sympathy. "Rest assured that killing your best friend was never on my agenda."

"It wasn't?" a surprised Danny asked, opening an eye.

"No." the Professor replied, looking back down at McCoy. "Unfortunately, Danny, I know that there is a fate that I can administer to you that you would think is worse than death." A wicked smile appeared on his face as confusion appeared in Danny's eyes. "And that would be you becoming my protégé."

"No." Mary gasped, putting both of her hands over her mouth.

"Never!" an adamant Danny shook his head. "I'll never work for you!"

"I don't recall saying that you had a choice in the matter." the Professor chuckled, aiming the pistol in his hands at Danny's leg. "Perhaps, you'll be a little bit more obedient after a stronger dose of pain."

"No!" Mary exclaimed, rushing forward and trying with all of her might to wrestle the gun out of the Professor's hands.

"Stupid girl!" the Professor growled, easily able to throw Mary off. The red-haired woman went flying backwards and collided hard with a marble pillar behind him.

"Mary." a horrified Danny found himself wanting to shout as he helplessly watched his best friend sink unconsciously to the floor. However, nothing but a whisper came out of his mouth. "No."

"I guess that will teach her to not place hero-worship where it's not due." the Professor chuckled as he turned to look at Mary. Danny could barely hear him over the pounding of his own heart, which now thumped loudly in his ears. He wanted to destroy the man standing above him! "Don't worry, Danny. We'll be taking her with us." The black and gray-haired man's laughter increased. "Not only will she be useful in keeping you in line, but I can make use of the skills she employed in her former occupation."

The reference to Mary's days as an escort was the final straw that released the anger that had been welling up inside of Danny; anger at himself for not being able to protect Mary and anger at the Professor for what he had done. Letting out a primal scream, the tall, brown-haired man jumped up and tackled the surprised older man to the ground. As the unused pistol scattered across the floor away from the two men, McCoy unleashed a flurry of uncontrolled punches on the older man. Any pleas for mercy that the Professor may have made fell upon deaf ears and a disconnected gleam appeared in Danny's brown eyes. The white plaster covering his right knuckles was quickly stained red before breaking off completely.

* * *

Finally reaching the end of the hallway without finding Jillian and Delinda, Ed readied himself for a fight as he walked up to the huge, golden door that lay at the end. The gray-haired, former CIA agent knew that his wife and daughter, the Professor, or all three probably awaited him the minute he opened the door, and he wanted to make sure that he was ready for whatever came his way. He kicked the door open forcibly, only to see five men waiting for him on the other side. Some held weapons in their hands.

"Knew this was coming." Ed sighed, letting the torch fall from his hands as the men rushed at him.

To be continued...


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Author's Notes: Sorry for this being so late, but real life (read: computer problems) and school conspired to keep me away from working on it. Anyway, thanks for all of the reviews!

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

* * *

"Finally!" a weary, sweating Mike exclaimed as he, Sam and Nessa managed to shove the stone door that separated them from Danny and Mary open once more. Exhausted, all three took a moment to catch their breath before they walked slowly and quietly inside.

"Oh, my God." a horrified Sam gasped as the trio halted in their tracks and noticed the scene playing out in front of them: an unconscious Mary laying in a heap and an out of control Danny wailing away on a very bloody and almost lifeless Professor. A blank look clearly present in the younger man's angry brown eyes. Immediately, Mike rushed over and pulled Danny off after a brief struggle. The former Marine lieutenant still wanted to attack, making the bald man's job very difficult.

"Danny! Danny! DANNY!" Mike said, grabbing Danny once more after the brown-haired man escaped his clutches and hit the Professor a few more times. "Damn it, man! Stop! You're going to kill him!"

"Let me go, Mike!" an enraged Danny growled, trying to throw his friend off. "It's what the old bastard deserves!"

"Danny, please stop!" Nessa pleaded, placing herself in between Danny and the Professor. She turned her body towards Mary, who was being attended to by Sam. "You have a more important job to do right now."

Following Nessa's gaze, Danny looked over to see that an unconscious Mary was still lying where she had fallen. Panting for breath, the disconnected look slowly vanished from Danny's brown eyes and Mike could feel the man's body begin to relax. McCoy's mind questioned what in the hell he had been doing for the past few minutes? Mary had needed him and he hadn't been there for her once again. He lightly pushed Mike's restraining hands off of his arms before sprinting over and gently cradling Mary's limp body in his arms. He could suddenly feel warm, sticky blood on his left arm.

"Mary." Danny begged, shaking his best friend lightly. She rolled from side to side like a rag doll. "Mary! Come on, baby. Open your eyes!" There was still no response, causing tears to form in the corners of Danny's eyes. Could his greatest fear be coming true? Could he be losing Mary the way that his father had lost his mother?

"No!" a pleading Danny shouted, looking to the heavens as if telling some imaginary force that he wasn't going to accept that. Looking back to Mary, he gripped the red-haired woman's hand tightly in his own. His usual confident voice was clogged by emotion. "You were the one who told me that you were tough enough to make it through this. Show me that you are!"

"D…Danny?" a groaning Mary whispered as she began to move around a little bit. "Danny?"

"Thank, God." an overjoyed Danny said to himself, closing his eyes to stop the now tears of happiness. He could hear Sam nearby breath a sigh of relief. With a wide grin, he looked back down at his best friend. "Mary! You're okay."

"I told you that I was tougher than you thought." Mary smiled before she gently turned her head. Her brown eyes went wide as she got a look at the lifeless Professor. "Oh my God. Danny, did you…"

"No, he's still alive." Nessa shook her head. "Although, just barely." Smiling, she turned towards Danny. "I think that he'll think twice before messing with you again." A puzzled expression appeared on the black woman's features as she suddenly looked past McCoy. "How long has that been there?"

"Has what been where?" a curious Danny asked, turning his own head to see a wooden door on the opposite wall. Gently setting Mary back down on the floor, the former Marine lieutenant got to his feet. "What in the hell?"

"That, my friend, would be a door." Mike replied with a slight grin.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Danny replied, aiming a quick glare at Mike before returning his gaze to the door. "Wonder where that leads."

"Only one way to find out." Mike grinned, heading for the door.

"You three, stay here." Danny ordered before running after Mike.

"Fine." an annoyed Sam replied, crossing her arms across her chest. "But don't count on us to save your macho asses if something goes wrong!"

"It locks from our side." Mike noticed, examining the door handle in his hand. Curious, the bald, African American man put his ear up to the thick wooden door. "I can't hear anything on the other side!" He pulled his head off of the door and looked at Danny. "Maybe it's a red herring?"

"Only one way to know." Danny replied, keeping a firm gaze on the door but glancing momentarily at Mike. "You ready, man?"

"On the count of three." Mike nodded as both he and Danny got into a stance, readying themselves to kick. "One…two…THREE!"

The combined force of Ed's two top guys in security and surveillance was enough to pop the door open slightly. The two men hesitated to hear some sort of sound from the other side before they entered.

"You guys forget your key?" the taunting voice of Delinda Deline said from the other side. Turning to each other, Danny and Mike realized that Ed's daughter probably couldn't see them, so she just assumed it was more of the Professor's men coming to check on her.

"Ah, you know me, Delinda." Danny smiled as he walked into the room, causing stunned, overjoyed looks to appear on both Deline women's faces. "I'm always losing that bad boy."

"Danny!" Jillian exclaimed, getting to her feet as Mike walked into the room. "Mike!"

"Someone call for two knights-in-shining armor?" Mike asked before being enveloped in a tight hug by Jillian. "It's great to see you, Mrs. D."

"I knew that you guys would come for us!" Delinda remarked as she hugged Danny tightly. Tears of joy streaming down her face. "I just knew it!"

"Where's Ed?" a curious Jillian asked as she took her turn to hug Danny.

"We split up." Danny reported after hugging the older, blonde woman. "There were two hallways. We took one and Ed took the other." He shook his head. "I don't know where he is right now."

"He's going to be pissed though." Mike chuckled, "I mean, not only did we take out the mastermind…"

"We?" Danny asked in disbelief.

"Okay, not only did Danny single-handedly take out the mastermind," Mike continued, shooting an annoyed look at Danny. "But we rescued you two as well."

"So, who was behind all of this?" a curious Jillian asked, looking at Danny. "I mean, the Professor said that Eddie was going to be surprised when he found out who…"

"Whoa!" a stunned Danny said, putting a hand up. "The Professor's not the organizer of all of this?"

"No." Jillian shook her head, causing Danny and Mike to exchange worried glances. "You guys didn't know that?"

"No, and neither does Mr. D." a worried Mike replied as Danny kicked a nearby column in frustration. "Old guy's prepared to fight someone that he's not going to find!"

* * *

Panting as the last of the five men fell unconsciously to the floor, Ed Deline put a hand on a nearby pillar to steady himself. The gray-haired, former CIA operative lifted his head once more rather quickly upon hearing someone else clapping, and looked around with his distinct blue eyes. He paused upon seeing a shadowed figure standing on a nearby dais. Growling, Ed readied himself for another fight, twirling the machete in his hand.

"Brava, Ed." the figure complimented, clearly disguising his voice through some means. "Your performance thus far has everything that I've come to expect from you."

"Come on out, you yellow-bellied asshole!" a firm Ed demanded, aiming his machete at the figure. "I'll make you pay for even thinking about kidnapping my family!"

"And such a beautiful family, it is." the mysterious figure replied with a slight laugh. "Which is exactly the reason that I'm the one giving the orders around here and not you, Ed." Another chuckle escaped him. "After all, you have no way of knowing their current status; what perils they may or may not be in." The disguised voice became firm. "Drop your weapon."

Although the thought of rushing forward and stabbing his mysterious foe did run through his mind, Deline chucked his machete aside like it was useless to him. However, his blue eyes remained locked upon the figure.

"Good boy." the figure complimented before throwing some sort of device to the side, where it skidded to a stop next to Ed's machete. The figure, a blonde-haired man, slightly younger than Ed, stepped forward into the light. A wide, evil looking smile on his face.

"You!" a stunned Ed said, taking a step back as he recognized the man instantly. "What in the hell are you doing here?"

"I said that I would destroy you, Ed." former Senator Bill Henderson smirked in his usual Southern drawl.

To be continued...


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Author's Notes: As always, thank you for all of the reviews! It really means a lot to me. Special, ultra-big thank you to Mackenzie (Lil Grrl Bleu) for coming up with the finish for a particular line in this chapter when my brain just couldn't find the words. Thanks again, girl.

* * *

Chapter Nineteen

* * *

"Oh, God." an obviously worried Jillian said before rushing forward. "We've got to go find him!"

"Mrs. D., no!" a firm Mike replied, stepping in her path. "The last thing that Mr. D. needs right now is you showing up just when he's confronting whomever the hell kidnapped you."

"I think I know how to find out who that was, Mikey." Danny growled before turning swiftly on his feet and charging back into the other room. Knowing what his friend was planning, Mike quickly raced after him and grabbed the brown-haired man's arm. Mary, Nessa and Sam simply looked over.

"Danny! Danny!" a firm Mike said, quickly placing himself in front of the ex-Marine. "The Professor's not going to be able to tell us anything right now, man. Not after what you did to him!"

"You think so?" Danny grinned slightly as he walked towards the Professor. With one swift motion, he yanked the still unconscious older man to his feet and held him in place by his collar. "Tell me who's behind this, you sonofabitch! Huh? I know that you can hear me!"

"Danny!" Mike exclaimed, pulling McCoy away. The Professor sank to the floor once more. "Thanks to you, man's probably got severe head trauma! I doubt that he'll be telling anyone anything for awhile."

"Bastard." Danny spat, kicking the Professor in the stomach. "It's what you deserve."

Hearing squeals of delight from behind them, both men turned to see the tail end of the Deline women's reunion with their female companions playing out. Clearly overjoyed, Sam and Nessa hugged an equally happy Delinda tightly to them, while a concerned looking Jillian knelt down near the injured Mary. Exchanging a glance with Mike, Danny ran over to the latter pair.

"What happened?" a worried Jillian inquired as a wincing Mary struggled to sit up.

"Kind of got thrown into that." Mary replied, holding a hand to the back of her head as she nodded towards the pillar now to the side of her. Kneeling down, Danny held the red-haired woman steady in his arms. "I'm so glad to see that you and Delinda are all right."

"We need to get you some medical attention." Jillian stated before glancing up at Danny. From one look in the older, blonde-haired woman's eyes, McCoy could tell that she was silently reprimanded him for not doing that sooner. He gulped and smiled nervously. "Seems like we're going to need to split up."

"Yeah." Danny nodded, "Mike and I will go after Ed while you get the girls out of here." He looked down at Mary, knowing that she would most likely protest his doing something so dangerous. With a confident smile, he gripped her hand in his casted right. "Don't worry about me. I'll turn out all right."

"I know you will." Mary smiled back as Danny slowly helped her get to her feet. The brown-haired man held onto the woman until she was stable. "Just go get Ed, so we can get out of this nightmare."

"Don't worry." Danny promised as Nessa took over the role of helping Mary to walk. "Everything's going to be just fine, I promise."

* * *

"You're the one behind this?" a puzzled Ed said as he looked at the confident man in front of him. The gray-haired former CIA agent shook his head in disbelief. "No. No way in hell! What about the Professor?"

"Please!" Henderson replied, rolling his eyes. "As if that idiot has anywhere near the intelligence needed to pull something like this off." A chuckle escaped the man with a blonde mullet. "Of course, he's probably already miles from here by now with the reward I promised him." He flashed an evil grin at Ed. "Not that you'll be needing pretty boy McCoy after this."

"Danny." Ed whispered, not even wanting to think about what the Professor may have done or was about to do to his protégé. He growled in anger. "You'll pay for this!"

"Oh, Ed, Ed, Ed." Henderson said, slowly shaking his head. "Are you too stupid to even realize that there's nothing you can do right now to even help yourself, much less someone else?" A chuckle escaped him. "After all, I still hold the safety of your precious little family over your head."

"That's another thing that you're going to pay for!" an unafraid Ed replied, taking a step forward. "See, I thought that you knew all about me, Henderson." He shook his head slowly, maintaining his gaze on the blonde-haired man. "But the truth is, you don't know squat! You love to prance around screaming about decency and morals but when it comes to actually having them, you wouldn't know decency and morals if they bit you on your ass!"

"Big words, Ed." Henderson chuckled, rolling his eyes. "But I'm not so sure that you can back them up." He suddenly held a walkie-talkie in his hand. "Especially when all I have to do is say a few words into this, and poof! No more Jillian and Delinda!"

"You asshole!" an enraged Ed roared as he lunged forward at the other man. He had almost had his hands around the cocky former Senator's throat when he felt something hard collide with his back. Crying out in anguish, Deline sank to his knees and looked behind him. A young, brown-haired man stood a few feet away holding some sort of pipe. "You!"

"How's it going, boss?"

* * *

"All right." Danny stated after watching as the last trace of the group of women disappeared. A look of determination appearing in his brown eyes, the battered and bruised, tall man looked at Mike beside him. "Let's go get Ed!"

Just as Mike was about to reply, the duo heard the sound of retreating, heavy footsteps emanate from behind them. Quizzical looks appeared on both of their faces before they realized that it had to be the Professor escaping! Both men turned around just in time to see the bloodied, older man opening a secret door, leaning on the frame to support his body weight.

"No!" an angered Danny called out, ignoring his own injuries and running as he noticed the door starting to close.

"Another day, Danny." the Professor promised with a firm look just as the door closed, separating the two men. Not willing to give up, McCoy banged on the object a few times with his healthy, left hand. Eventually, he quit with a sigh of defeat and turned away.

"Another day." Danny whispered in agreement.

* * *

"Leo?" a puzzled Ed replied, too sore from getting hit in the back to move. The young, brown-haired man behind him just smiled as he walked over to the senator's side. Ed had recognized him instantly as Leo Broder, a former employee in the surveillance and security department of the Montecito. "What in the hell…"

"Come on, Ed." Henderson chuckled, running a hand through his blonde mullet. "You didn't think that you were the only one in town with a young protégé, did you?" With a proud smile, he put a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Leo here's been with me from the very beginning."

"That's right." Leo nodded, banging the pipe in his hand against the opposite hand. He smiled a toothless smile at Ed. "The only reason I was even at the Montecito was to learn everything that I could about you and your staff." He chuckled slightly. "And may I just say, Ed, your little casino was way too easy to infiltrate."

"You arrogant son of a bitch!" Ed growled, not believing his ears. The former CIA operative shook his head. "I should have listened to Danny when he said that you were a douche bag!"

"You know," Henderson remarked, looking at Leo. "I don't think that our friend here understands his position." He fingered the walkie-talkie in his hand. "Maybe I should show him why mouthing off to the ones who hold his wife and daughter's safety in their hands is a bad idea."

"No." Ed whispered, feeling like a fool for forgetting that the two men in front of him knew where Jillian and Delinda were, and held their safety in their hands.

Suddenly, a bullet whizzed just over Henderson's hand, causing the blonde-haired man to drop the walkie-talkie to the floor instantly. He, Leo and Ed all looked to see a visibly angry Danny holding a freshly fired pistol in his hands and not relaxing his aim in the slightest.

"You." Henderson spat, glaring at Danny.

"Hey." a grinning Mike replied as he also entered the room. "You should be lucky that he took that shot and not me." The bald, African American man shrugged his shoulders. "Otherwise, you'd be missing a hand."

"Are you okay, Ed?" Danny asked as he and Mike rushed over to their employer's side. While McCoy maintained his aim on the two other men, Cannon helped Deline back to his feet.

"I'm fine." Ed nodded, looking at the two men beside him. He could see that dried blood spatters now covered the white, plaster cast on McCoy's right forearm, and the end of said cast seemed to have broken off, allowing him to form a complete fist. With a slight shrug, the silver-haired man decided that what happened was a question to be asked later. "Don't do anything stupid, you two. These two morons still know where Jillian and Delinda are."

"So do we." Mike revealed with a wide grin, "Last we saw, they were heading outside with the rest of the girls."

"What?" a surprised Henderson growled as Leo readied himself for the fight he knew was coming.

"That's right." Danny confirmed with a cocky grin. "Not only did we free the Deline women, but I made it so that your associate, the Professor, won't be much help even if he does show up."

"Looks like it's the end of the line, Henderson." Ed smiled triumphantly.

"Hmm." Henderson scoffed, "That's what you think!"

To be continued...


	20. Chapter Twenty

Author's Notes: My sincerest apologies that this took so long to write. I only hope that it was worth the wait.

* * *

Chapter Twenty

* * *

Wincing as their eyes adjusted from the smoky, semi-lit temple to the bright and beautiful outside, the collective group of Jillian, Delinda, Mary, Sam and Nessa didn't even see the dark-haired man running up to them until they had reached the bottom of the stairs.

"You ladies okay?" a curious Jack Keller inquired as they descended the last of the stairs.

"You!" an angry Sam spat, getting into a fighting stance. "What in the hell do you want?"

"Don't think that we don't know about you misleading Ed." an equally firm Nessa said as she stepped in front of the injured Mary. "How much did the mastermind behind this whole thing promise you, Keller?"

"Look, Ed knows why I did that." Jack sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "And he's all but forgiven me for it." Suddenly, concern flashed in his blue eyes as he spotted Mary. "My God, what happened in there?"

"She got thrown into a pillar." Jillian explained, "We need to get her to a doctor right away."

"No." Mary shook her head slowly, "I'm not going anywhere until Danny comes back."

"Where is Ed and Beavis and Butthead anyway?" a curious Keller asked, looking at the group. Suddenly, a sudden movement nearby caught his attention and the former CIA operative turned his head. The battered, bloody Professor was escaping the temple through a hidden door! "What the…"

"He's still alive?" a surprised Sam remarked, glancing over at Nessa. "I guess Danny didn't do as good as job as we thought."

Without saying anything to the women around him, Keller suddenly ran over and grabbed the Professor, pinning his arms behind him. The injured, slightly older man emitted a shocked gasp.

"I don't know where the hell you thought that you were going." Keller grinned, tightening his grip as the Professor attempted to throw him off. "But you're not going anywhere, Teach."

* * *

"See, now you're just being delusional, Billy boy." Ed remarked as the showdown inside the temple continued. Danny still confidently held his gun on Senator Henderson and a battle-ready Leo. "How can it not be over for you right now?" 

"Because of what you don't see." Henderson laughed, exchanging glances with Leo.

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?" a puzzled Danny questioned, letting his aim drop slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he could also see quizzical looks on the faces of Ed and Mike. However, this quick glance distracted him from seeing Leo, who suddenly lunged forward and tackled McCoy to the ground. As he felt the cold marble floor against his back, a steady stabbing feeling emanated from his ribs, causing him to groan in pain. His pistol fell out of reach.

"Still trying to prove to everyone that you can hack it, GI Joe?" Leo smirked before ramming his metal pipe into Danny's abdomen. Crying out in anguish, the brown-haired, ex-Marine rolled on his side facing away from Leo and coughed up blood. "You should really give up on that."

"Danny!" Mike shouted, rushing over as he noticed Leo raising the pipe again. The bald, African American man grabbed the metal object with both of his hands, preventing Broder from moving it anywhere. " I don't think so!"

"Don't interfere, Mike." an intense Leo requested, pulling the pipe away as he got back to his feet. He slowly shook his head at the other man. "I've got nothing against you."

"Well, that's a damn shame." Mike grinned as he got into a fighting stance. "Because I've got plenty against your two-timing ass!" His grin intensified upon seeing Danny slowly getting to his feet behind Leo, his casted right arm clamped tightly around his abdomen. "You ok, Danny Boy?"

"Been better." Danny admitted, wiping a remnant of blood from the corner of his mouth with his left hand. His brown eyes focused themselves on Leo. "Payback time, Broder."

* * *

"Well, looks like the boys are busy playing by themselves." Ed smiled, looking at a rather surprised Henderson. The gray-haired man shrugged his shoulders casually while the blonde-haired man seemed to step back in fear. "I guess that that just leaves you and me, old friend. You know if I had the misfortune of being you right now, I'd use whatever trump card you claim to have up your sleeve." Deline suddenly punched the man with the blonde mullet square in the jaw, sending him staggering back a few more steps. "Because I guarantee that you're going to need it." 

"You're asking it for it, Ed!" Henderson smiled as he rubbed the sore spot where Ed had punched him with one hand. The other reached inside his pants pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a remote. Mystified, Ed simply lowered his guard and stared at the object. "All I have to do is press one little button and I'll bury us all alive."

"You rigged this place to implode?" a shocked Ed figured out, his blue eyes staring into those of the Senator. Mentally, he questioned whether or not the man in front of him was actually insane enough to pull off something like that, or if he was just bluffing.

"Indeed." Henderson nodded with a wicked smile. "You see, Ed, when I came up with the plan to lure you here, I never intended on you leaving." He looked over Ed's shoulder at Danny and Mike who were busy fighting with Leo. "However, I'm a bit sorry that it appears that I'm going to have to take your boys out as well."

"Danny!" Ed shouted over his shoulder, realizing that he needed to get the pair out of here if Henderson was telling the truth. "Mike! Get your asses out of here!"

"Ed," Danny replied, looking up from Leo, who he had pinned on the ground. "No…"

"Shouldn't have done that!" Leo remarked right before Danny felt a surge of pain tear through his left thigh. Growling in pain, the former Marine could feel a warm liquid he recognized immediately as blood as he put a hand to the spot, and his suspicion was confirmed as he saw that his opponent now held a red-tipped knife in his hand.

"Danny!" a worried Mike exclaimed, simply staring at his best friend, who had fallen to the floor and was holding his thigh with his hands. His anger stirred, the bald, African-American man's eyes narrowed as Leo got back to his feet. "You son of a bitch!"

Although lunging at a knife-wielding man wasn't the smartest move someone could make, that rational thought didn't even enter Cannon's head as he charged forward. Pushing the knife-holding arm out of the way, Mike managed to land a blow directly to the middle of Leo's abdomen. The brown-haired man simply gasped for air and cradled his mid-section with one arm, allowing Mike to land a blow directly to the jaw. Leo staggered the side a few paces, allowing the former Montecito valet to be able to grab his arm and attempt to wrestle the knife away from him.

* * *

"Danny!" a concerned Ed exclaimed, momentarily tossing his confrontation with Henderson out the window and rushing over to the younger man's side. Although Danny was now sitting up, blood was still seeping out of the big gash in his thigh. The gray-haired, former CIA agent knelt down next to him, putting his hand on his shoulder. "You okay?" 

"Of course." Danny reassured, wincing as he moved his leg slightly. A slight grin appeared on his face as he looked at his mentor. "It's just a scratch."

"It's a bit more serious than a paper cut, kid." Ed smiled back, having to chuckle inwardly at his protégé's macho attitude. Slowly removing his shirt, Ed tied the garment expertly around Danny's injured limb. "That oughta do it."

Just as he was about to thank Ed for the older man's rarely seen generosity, Danny's eyes suddenly caught sight of Senator Henderson's finger coming down on the button.

"No!" a horrified Danny shouted, causing every head in the room to turn and look at what had caused such a reaction. As the button went down, different thoughts suddenly flooded the heads of Danny, Mike, and Ed. Thinking about Mary and his father, guilt began to consume Danny about leaving both of them alone, especially his father. The younger McCoy knew firsthand that his mother's death had nearly killed the older man and he dreaded what his own death would do.

Ed too, of course, was full of sorrow that he would never see Jillian or Delinda again. Closing his eyes tightly, he wished that he could go back in time and change the last words he had said to the pair from a warning not too spend too much money to an I love you. When he opened his eyes, he looked at the blonde-haired man in front of him with pure hatred; hatred for taking him away from Jillian and Delinda, and hatred for the presumed soon-to-be murder of Danny and Mike. Deline also felt angry with himself for not doing more to prevent the two men from being in this situation in the first place.

Throwing Leo to the ground, Mike was also feeling angry with himself for things that he hadn't done. The bald, African American man hadn't protected Danny and Ed like he felt that he needed to. He hadn't been able to stop the bad guys from hurting people that he cared deeply about. Most of all, he hadn't told a certain black, British pit boss exactly how he felt about her. Closing his eyes, Cannon swore that if he lived through this, he would take better care of his friends, make the Senator and the others pay, and, first and foremost, he would tell Nessa that he loved her.

When the expected deafening bangs of an implosion didn't reach their ears, the Montecito men looked around quizzically at each other before all looking at a confident Henderson. Growling, Ed stepped forward.

"What in the hell are you playing at, Henderson?" he demanded, his blue eyes narrowing in fury. "You just trying to give us all heart attacks or something?"

"Poor stupid Ed." Henderson chuckled, pounding his fist against the wall behind him. To Deline's amazement, a door suddenly appeared in the rock where there hadn't been one previously. "Did you really think that I would kill myself and Leo along with you three idiots? No, I made sure that we would have enough time and a way to escape." Still smirking, he looked past Ed to where Danny was trying to unsuccessfully stand on his injured leg. "I'd say that you would also have enough time to escape, but I don't think that one of you will make it out of here in the five minutes before it implodes." He sighed. "Good thing that I've made sure that there's no way to connect me to this. I don't want the death of a Silver Star recipient to smear my re-election campaign."

"You sonofa…" a snarling Ed shook his head as he started stalking towards the senator. The gray-haired man was forced to stop, however, upon seeing that Leo had picked up Danny's discarded pistol and was now aiming it at the three Montecito men. Keeping his gun on them, Leo backed up into the same hidden passageway as the disgraced senator.

"Farewell, Ed." a taunting Henderson waved just before the door shut again, leaving Danny, Mike and Ed alone once more.

"Mike, Ed," Danny requested, bracing himself against a nearby pillar. Knowing that he could never make it out with his leg the way it was, the former Marine lieutenant had resigned himself to the fact that he was going to die. "What are you guys waiting for? Get out of here!"

"No!" a firm Ed shook his head before turning to Mike. "Mikey, I need you to get out of here and make sure that the girls are as far away from the building as possible!"

"All right, Mr. D." Mike reluctantly nodded before sprinting back out into the hallway. He didn't want to leave, but the "don't question me" look in Ed's eyes had been stronger than ever. Cannon knew that his boss had a plan in mind that would guarantee a happy ending for everyone.

"Ed, go!" Danny demanded, waving in the direction that Mike had just gone in. He bit his lip and closed his eyes as a fiery pain shot through his body after he dared put weight on his slashed leg for a second. "You'll never make it if you wait for me."

"I'm not leaving you, kid." Ed replied, shaking his head. He slowly removed Danny's left hand and, thus, arm from the pillar and wrapped it around his own neck. "We're both getting out of here even if I have to use you a soccer ball and kick your beat-up ass all the way!" He started dragging the brown-haired, younger man towards the door. "Now, come on!"

* * *

"Looks like everything's wrapping up out here." Sam remarked as she watched Interpol agents and local medical officials load the Professor into an ambulance. Nearby, more local officials were also attending to Jillian, Delinda and Mary. 

"Notice who disappeared the minute that Interpol showed up though." Nessa commented, rolling her eyes. "Such a coward that Jack Keller is! Admits that he did wrong, but can't take his punishment like a man!"

"I wonder if the boys got to Ed yet." a worried Jillian said as her, Delinda and Mary, who was now sporting a bandage around her head, made their way over. The older, blonde-haired woman clasped her hands together in a prayer-like pose. "God! I just want this nightmare to be over!"

"Oh, my God!" a horrified Nessa suddenly gasped, turning her attention to the side of the temple. Senator Henderson and Leo had made their way through the same concealed door that the Professor had just used, ending up right into the hands of waiting Interpol agents.

"It's Leo and that pervy senator." Sam noticed before worry suddenly washed over the brown-haired woman's features. "Oh, my God. You guys don't that they...Ed, Mike and Danny can't be..."

"They're not." Delinda shook her head, refusing to believe it. "They can't be!" Suddenly, her green eyes caught sight of Mike sprinting down the temple steps. "Look! It's Mike!"

"Mike!" a thankful Mary said as the bald, black man descended the last of the stairs, gasping for breath. "Thank, God! Where's Danny and Ed?"

"We've got to get out of here." Mike gasped, putting his hands on his knees. "Got to get to safety."

"Safety?" a puzzled Nessa repeated as several loud booms were heard in quick succession. Covering their ears, the women watched on, terrified, as the temple began to collapse in on itself. In their shock, they didn't even notice as Interpol agents grabbed them and carried them towards the relatively safety of the jungle nearby.

"Yes!" Senator Henderson exclaimed with absolute joy as the temple was quickly rendered to nothing more than a pile of rubble and a dust cloud that seemed to choke the breath out of all who stood near.

"No." Mary whispered with wide, tear-filled eyes as stillness began to descend the destruction site. Suddenly, she screamed so loud that those around her felt that they must have heard her back home in Las Vegas. "DANNY!"

"ED!" a teary-eyed Jillian screamed at the same time, holding a sobbing Delinda close to her.

To be continued...


	21. Chapter 21

Author's Notes: Finally! I'm sorry that this took so long to write, but with school ending, my time magically disappeared on me. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this, and find that it was worth the wait.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-One

* * *

Minutes after the temple had collapsed entirely, the Montecito group could only stand in stunned silence and stare at the massive pile of stone that now lie before them. There was too much dust still in the air to see clearly, but there was also no sign of movement within the cloud, leading the group to believe that the worst had happened to Danny and Ed.

"No." Sam whispered in a broken voice, shaking her head. "No, they can't be…"

"They're not." a firm Mike rejected, also shaking his head. "Mr. D.'s like freaking MacGyver. If anyone could have survived that, he could!" The bald, usually jovial man suddenly noticed Mary rushing forward and grabbed her to stop her. "Mary, no!"

"Let me go, Mike!" the frantic red-haired woman screamed, trying her hardest to wiggle out of his grasp. "I need to go! I need to find Danny! He could be hurt!"

"It's not safe, Mary." Nessa pointed out, shaking her head. "Danny wouldn't want you to put yourself in danger!"

"She's right, honey." Jillian agreed, putting aside her own worries about her husband for the moment. "I want to go and look for Eddie just as much as you want to look for Danny, but they wouldn't want us to endanger ourselves in the process." She put her hand on Mary's shoulder. "I'm afraid that all we can do right now is wait and hope." A silent Mary just collapsed against the older woman, sobbing hysterically. "I know. I know."

* * *

"God…" the facedown Danny groaned, drifting back into consciousness and realizing that not only did his body feel like nothing but one big, throbbing pain, but that he also felt a great weight on his back. "Huh?" 

"You all right, kid?" a concerned Ed asked from somewhere behind him. The great weight began to lift from his back, and Danny then remembered that Ed had tackled him to the ground from behind when the implosion had started. "Danny?"

"I'm fine, Ed." Danny finally answered, rolling onto his back and sitting up. Coughing because of the dust, Danny took a moment to silently survey the rubble surrounded the two men before looking up at Ed. "Did we really survive that?"

"I don't know." Ed grinned, "Let me see." Suddenly, Danny felt Ed's foot collide heavily with a certain part of his anatomy, causing the younger man to yowl in pain and roll back onto his side, holding his midsection. "Don't ask anymore stupid questions!"

"I won't." Danny promised, his voice slightly higher than normal.

"Serves you right." Ed chuckled, looking down at the younger man before his blue eyes shifted to their surroundings. The dust was starting to clear slightly and he could see a group of people standing nearby. He squinted, but he could swear that one of them was… "Jillian?"

"Eddie?" a surprised Jillian asked, thinking that she heard her husband's voice. Her eyes darted around; looking for the source before she suddenly spotted the sight of a figure standing amongst the dust and rubble. "Eddie!"

"Jillian!" an overjoyed Ed shouted, exchanging glances with a beaming Danny.

"Eddie!" Jillian exclaimed, starting to run towards the figure. As she broke through the barrier of dust, the older, blonde-haired woman could see the form she had seen was, in fact, her shirtless husband. Tears started to flow from her eyes and her speed increased. "Eddie!" Suddenly, the heel of her shoe caught on something and she went stumbling forward. "Whoa!"

"Gotcha!" Ed exclaimed, rushing forward and catching Jillian before she hit the ground. As the woman in his arms looked up into his blue eyes, a wide smile appeared on the gray-haired, former CIA agent's wrinkled features. "Hey there, angel."

"Oh, God! ED!" Jillian sobbed, hugging her husband tightly as if to prevent some imminent threat from taking him away from her again. "I thought that I'd never see you again!"

"What?" Ed chuckled, smoothing the woman's blonde hair with his hand. He hoped that no one would see the few tears that were escaping his own blue eyes. "Like I'd be stupid enough to leave something as good as you? Get real!"

Jillian's only reply was to touch Ed's lips with her own, causing a passionate kiss to suddenly erupt between the old, married couple. Watching silently on, Danny could only smile as he pushed himself onto a nearby pile of rubble, his left leg still too injured to stand on. However, it wasn't long before the former Marine lieutenant found himself engulfed in an embrace of his own. He didn't have time to see the face of the person who had grabbed him, but Danny knew that he would know that red hair anywhere.

"Mary." he smiled, hugging the sobbing woman back.

"I thought that I had lost you." the woman quietly replied, her face still buried in his chest.

"Hey, I promised you that I would turn out all right." Danny reassured, gently massaging her back. A fond gleam appeared in his brown eyes as a memory suddenly appeared in his mind. "Remember that time in 3rd grade? When I fell out of Ms. Stegeman's tree?"

"I…" Mary sniffed, pulling herself away from Danny. Looking up into his eyes, she wiped the few tears that remained on her cheek. "I remember that. You ended up only knocking the wind out of you, but Greg and I both thought that you were dead." She smiled up at him. "I almost remember you having to apologize for that for about two years straight."

"So, how long do you think I'm going to have to for this little scare?" Danny chuckled, rubbing the back of his head with his healthy, left hand.

"Oh, I'd say that this is worth at least two decades." Mary giggled, tears of happiness streaming down her cheeks. Leave it to Danny to crack a joke at a time like this.

"If you need any help making him pay up," Ed offered as he and Jillian walked over to the pair. "I'll be more than happy to help."

"Oh, boy." Danny sighed worriedly, knowing full well the many things his boss was capable of doing to a man.

"Oh, come on, Eddie." Jillian chuckled, lightly elbowing her husband in the stomach. "I think that the poor boy's been through enough." Suddenly, the older woman wrapped her arms around Danny. "Oh, I'm so glad that you're both all right."

"All right being a relative term." Danny winced, putting a little weight back on his injured leg.

"Oh, my God, sweetheart." a concerned Ed replied, looking at the bandage around Mary's head. "What in the hell happened to you?" "I was trying to stop the Professor from shooting Danny," Mary explained, rubbing the side of her head. "And he threw me into a marble pillar."

"That bastard." Ed growled, anger clearly showing in his blue eyes.

"Don't worry, Daddy." Delinda reassured as the rest of the Montecito gang walked over. The relief of seeing that Danny and Ed had both survived the temple imploding in on them clear on their faces. "Danny already made sure that Professor paid for that."

"You did?" a surprised Ed asked as Delinda wrapped her arms around him.

"Oh, man." an overjoyed Mike replied, "Dude made him pay with interest! Old bastard was barely alive the last time we saw him."

"Really?" Ed remarked, looking at Danny while hugging Delinda back. "Pretty boy like you actually injured somebody that badly, huh? Wonders never cease."

"You're lucky that I'm beat up, old man." Danny smiled, leaning on Mike for support. "Otherwise, I'd take you out right now too."

"Keep dreaming." Ed replied, returning Danny's smile. "Come on, guys. Let's go home."

As the Montecito group filed past the wreckage of the temple, Ed, from where he stood in between Delinda and Jillian, had to pause as he noticed Interpol agents arresting Leo and Senator Henderson and loading them in a van. With a glance to his wife and daughter, Ed walked over to the blonde-haired, former senator.

"You!" Henderson growled, "I WILL make you pay, Ed."

"Not where you're going." a grinning Ed shook his head before punching the blonde-haired man in the jaw. As the senator fell to the side, Ed simply chuckled, turned and walked away. "Damn! That felt good."

* * *

Smiling at the sleeping forms of Delinda and Jillian in front of him, Ed wearily got up from his seat on the plane and headed forward. The Deline family had been given the entire back half of the plane to themselves, so that they could get reacquainted with each other without the interference of the others. Father, mother, and daughter had been doing so for the past hour until the latter two had fallen asleep. 

As he entered the front section of the plane, Ed could see that Jillian and Delinda weren't the only two that had fallen asleep on the flight back to Vegas. Sam, Nessa, and Mike were fast asleep in their seats, while Mary lay in Danny's arms on the couch. Looking around, the gray-haired, former CIA agent couldn't help but smile proudly at the assorted men and women around him; the ones he considered to be almost like sons and daughters to him.

"Thanks, guys." An appreciative Deline whispered before making his way into the cockpit. "So, how long until we reach Vegas?"

"Not for another couple of hours." Jack Keller replied, glancing up at Ed as he climbed into the co-pilot's seat. The dark-haired, slightly younger man smiled as he turned back to the window in front of him. "How's everyone?"

"Sleeping." Ed replied, staring at the vast landscape visible through the window in front of the two men. A wide smile appeared on his face. "Seems like we're the only ones with stamina around here, partner."

"Seems like." Keller chuckled in agreement. He suddenly smiled at the older man sitting next to him. "Thanks again for using your resources to get me off the hook this time, Ed. I really appreciate it." He chuckled again. "Of course, I don't understand why you did it, but I really appreciate it."

"Are you kidding?" Ed smiled at his long-time partner. "You popping up every once in awhile is good for my heart. Besides, we both know that there is no way a guy like you would survive prison, Jack. Not without becoming somebody's boyfriend."

"God." Keller winced, "Thanks for the mental image."

"Anytime." Ed laughed, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "So, what's next for you after this?"

"That's for me to know and for you to, possibly, find out." Keller grinned.

* * *

"It's going to be so good to see the Montecito again." Delinda remarked as she lay across the backseat of Ed's cherry red Hummer H2. "I just hope that Günter hasn't flown into a fit and destroyed Mystique while I've been gone." 

"I'm sure that everything's fine, honey." Ed reassured, driving the vehicle with one hand and holding Jillian's opposite hand with the other. He smiled fondly at the yellow and black Camaro convertible that was driving in front of the vehicle; the driver's red hair flowing in the breeze and the passenger clearly resting. "Looks like this whole adventure has taken a lot out of Danny."

"Well, the poor guy has been through a lot the past few days." Jillian remarked with a sigh. Suddenly, the Camaro turned, heading away from the Montecito. "Where do you think that they're going?"

"Oh, I know where they're going." Ed chuckled, squeezing his wife's hand. "Don't worry. Danny and Mary will join us later."

* * *

Hearing a car pull up to the construction site, both Luis and Larry looked over from where they had been speaking. The former had just informed the latter that the Montecito group was reportedly heading back to Vegas, so Mary had perfect timing in pulling the yellow and black Camaro convertible onto the site. Clapping a hand on Luis' shoulder, Larry went running over as Danny limped out of the car. There was a brief moment of silence as father simply looked over son. 

"I've really got to stop telling you to be careful." Larry remarked before suddenly enveloping Danny in a hug. "You always come back more beat up than you left, Danny Boy."

"I'm sorry, Dad." Danny smiled as he hugged his father back. "But don't worry. This should be the last time Ed and I have to go on one of our little missions."

"I'm holding you to that, man." Luis commented with a wide grin. The brown-haired detective's grin suddenly faded when he caught sight of the bandage around Mary's head. "Oh, my God, Mary! What happened to you?"

"I kind of got thrown into a pillar." Mary shrugged, "No big deal."

"It was a very big deal," Danny corrected as the two McCoy men finally broke their embrace. "Or it would have been if Mary wasn't so tough."

"So, I finally earned your respect?" Mary assumed with a smile.

"Well, you did prove that you're not the little girl that went running inside during those fake camp-outs." Danny said, rubbing the back of his head.

"You mean the ones where you screamed like a little girl if you heard the slightest noise?" a grinning Luis asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"Well, I, uh…" Danny fumbled, scratching the side of his head. "That was Greg?"

As Larry, Mary and Luis all started laughing, Danny could do little more than blush and stuff his healthy, left hand into his pants pocket.

* * *

"MMM." Mike said through a mouthful of food, "Delinda, you have got to give Günter my compliments on this!" The black, bald man swallowed a bit. "It is absolutely delicious!" 

"What's the matter with you?" Ed asked from the chair next to him, hitting Mike in the back of the head. "Didn't your parents ever teach you not to talk with your mouth full?"

From where they sat around the table, Delinda, Nessa, Jillian and Sam could only laugh as Mike shrank in his seat. Upon reaching the casino, Ed had ordered that a huge feast and some of his wine collection be set up on the Montecito's rooftop, a celebration for both those rescued and the rescuers. The door from the inside of the casino slowly swung open, getting the party's attention.

"Well, look who's here." Jillian smiled as Danny and Mary walked out through the door.

"Sorry, we're late." Danny apologized, "I wanted to…"

"It's all right, kid." Ed reassured with a nod, "How's your dad doing?"

"Good." Danny replied, nodding his head back. "However, I made the mistake of saying that this was probably our last mission, and Luis overheard me. He said that he's going to hold us to that."

"Well, what in the hell did you go and do a stupid thing like that for?" a curious, angry Ed asked before feeling Jillian nudge him in the ribs. "Ow!"

"Because this was your last, little mission, Edward Melvin Deline." an authoritative Jillian said with a look that proclaimed her the boss. "So, get used to it!"

"Yeah, yeah." Ed blushed as his employees took a moment to laugh at his expense. The gray-haired man coughed, both to clear his throat and warn his employees that whomever kept laughing would find themselves with a pink slip in hand, before raising his glass of wine. "To a job well done."

"And to friends that are more like family." Jillian said, raising her glass.

As the light from the slowly setting sun behind them began to fade, the six younger adults around the table joined Ed and Jillian in raising their glasses joyfully.

"Salute!" Ed proclaimed as all eight glasses clinked in the center of the table.

The End


End file.
